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BR  121  .S44  1908 
Seeberg,  Reinhold,  1859- 

1935. 
The  fundamental  truths  of 

the  Christian  religion 


y 


CROWN  THEOLOGICAL   LIBRARY 


VOL.    XXV. 

SEEBERGS    FUNDAMENTAL    TRUTHS   OF 
THE   CHRISTIAN    RELIGION 


THE  FUNDAMENTAL 
TRUTHS  OF  THE 
CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

Sixteen  Lectures  delivered  in  the  University 
of  Berlin  during  the  Winter  Term   190 1-2 

BY      Oc> 
Dr.  REINHOLD  SEEBERG 

PROFESSOR  OF  THEOLOGY   IN  THE   UNIVERSITY  OF   BERLIN 

Translated  from  the  ^th  Revised  German  Edition 

BY 

Rev.  GEORGE    E.  THOMSON,  B.D. 

AND 

CLARA  WALLENTIN 


Editedf  luith  an  Introductory  Note 

BY 

Rev.  W.  D.  MORRISON,  LL.D. 

RECTOR  OF  MARYLEBONE 


NEW  YORK:   G.  P.   PUTNAM'S   SONS 

LONDON:    WILLIAMS    &    NORGATE 

1908 


PREFACE  TO  THE  ENGLISH 
EDITION 

The  present  volume  consists  of  a  series  of 
sixteen  lectures  which  I  delivered  in  the 
University  of  Berlin,  before  students  of  all 
Faculties.  From  the  fourth  German  edition 
the  work  has  been  translated  into  English 
by  a  former  hearer  of  mine,  Rev.  George  E. 
Thomson,  Aberdeen.  In  its  new  dress  and 
among  new  people,  I  wish  the  book  as 
attentive  readers  as  it  has  found  in  Germany, 
for  the  task  it  sets  itself  is  certainly  worthy 
of  the  reflection  of  all.  Everywhere  in  our 
day  we  are  confronted  by  the  great  task  of 
preserving  Christianity  to  the  modern  mind. 
This  can  be  accomplished  only  if  the  modern 
world  can  be   brought   to  the   consciousness 


vi  PREFACE 

that  even  at  the  present  day  the  deepest  wants, 
needs,  and  problems  which  move  man  find 
their  answer  in  the  Gospel,  and  that  the 
Gospel  need  fear  no  progress  of  science  and 
culture.  But  for  this  purpose  no  pains  must 
be  spared  in  translating  the  thoughts  of  the 
Christian  revelation  into  the  speech  and 
modes  of  thought  of  our  own  time.  No 
element  of  real  Christianity  may  thereby  be 
surrendered,  yet  the  particular  way  of  stating 
the  problem  raised  by  the  spirit  and  need  of 
our  time  must  receive  minute  attention.  The 
old  truth  is  to  be  taught  in  new  wise. 

Such  an  attempt  is  made  in  the  present 
book.  It  is  not  addressed  to  any  particular 
Church  party,  but  is  meant  to  stir  up  educated 
readers  in  all  sections  of  the  Church  to 
examine  their  faith,  and  to  show  them  that 
precisely  in  modern  life  they  may  again  re- 
joice in  it.  The  task  which  the  book  sets 
itself  is  thus,  on  the  one  hand,  a  religious, 
on  the  other  hand  a  theological  one.  Theo- 
logically educated  readers  will  easily  discover 


PREFACE  vii 

in  the  book  the  framework  of  a  new  dog- 
matic system,  and  will  be  in  a  position  to 
interpret  and  supplement  the  thoughts — how- 
ever lightly  they  are  often  touched  upon — in 
accordance  with  the  system  as  a  whole.  The 
thought  of  a  new  "  modern  positive  theology," 
as  it  has  been  present  to  my  mind  for  years  (c/1 
my  Kirche  Deutschlands  im  19^^"^  Jahrhundert, 
2  ed.,  1904,  p.  302  ff.),  has  been,  at  least  in 
its  fundamental  ideas,  sketched  in  the  present 
book.  Theologians  who  wish  to  obtain  more 
precise  information  about  this  question  and 
the  varied  discussions  which  have  been  raised 
through  it  in  German  Theology,  I  refer  to 
the  thorough  and  luminous  work  of  Prof.  Beth 
in  Vienna,  JDie  Moderne  und  die  Principien 
der  Theologie  (Berlin). 

So  may  this  little  volume  go  forth  and 
bear  witness  to  English  Christendom  of  the 
truth  and  power  of  our  religion. 

R.   SEEBERG. 
Berlin,  lUh  May  1908. 


INTRODUCTORY   NOTE 

As  this  is  the  first  volume  of  Professor 
Seeberg's  which  has  been  translated  into 
English,  and  as  his  name  is  not  yet  familiar 
to  the  English-speaking  public,  I  have  deemed 
it  advisable  in  editing  this  little  work  to 
append  a  few  preliminary  words  respecting 
the  author  of  it.  Dr  Seeberg  was  born  little 
less  than  half  a  century  ago,  and  is  therefore 
still  in  the  maturity  of  his  powers.  After 
completing  his  preliminary  education  at  Reval 
he  commenced  the  study  of  theology,  first 
at  Dorpat  and  afterwards  at  Erlangen.  In 
1889  he  became  a  professor  of  theology  at 
Erlangen,  and  nine  years  afterwards  he  was 
called  to  occupy  a  chair  of  systematic  theology 
at  the  University  of  Berlin.  He  has  done  a 
great  deal  of  literary  work,  much  of  it  con- 
tributed to  reviews  and  encyclopaedias.     His 

ix 


X  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

principal  publications  are: — A  History  of 
Christian  Doctrine  ;  A  History  of  the  German 
Church  in  the  Nineteenth  Century ;  The  Holy 
Communion  in  the  New  Testament ;  "  A  Sketch 
of  Protestant  Ethics"  in  the  Kultur  der 
Gegenwart ;  Die  Theologie  des  Duns  Scotus ; 
An  Introduction  to  the  History  of  Dogma ; 
and  the  volume  which  is  now  placed  before 
the  English  public. 

Professor  Seeberg  is  rightly  regarded  among 
his  own  countrymen  as  one  of  the  most 
thoughtful  of  contemporary  theologians,  and 
he  exercises  a  wide  influence  on  the  modern 
German  church.  It  will  be  seen  from  the 
present  volume  that  he  is  more  conservative 
in  temper  than  some  of  the  contemporary 
German  theologians  whose  works  have  ap- 
peared in  such  a  series  as  the  Theological 
Translation  Library.  But  he  approaches  the 
burning  questions  of  religion  and  theology  in 
a  modern  frame  of  mind.  It  is  for  this  reason 
that  his  volume  on  The  Fundamental  Truths 
of  the  Christian  Religion  has  gone  through  so 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  xi 

many  editions  in  Germany ;  and  it  is  to  be 
hoped  that  it  will  be  equally  successful  in  its 
English  dress. 

Hitherto,  Dr  Seeberg's  publications  have 
been  mostly  of  an  historical  character  ;  but  his 
exhaustive  and  penetrating  studies  in  historical 
theology  have  all  been  written  with  the  object 
of  shedding  light  upon  the  religious  problems 
of  the  present.  His  studies  of  ecclesiastical 
dogma  have  led  him  to  the  conclusion  that 
dogma  is  only  the  form  in  which  the  Christian 
society  expresses  its  knowledge  of  the  saving 
truths  of  faith.  But  these  truths  are  quite 
capable  of  being  separated  from  the  historic 
forms  in  which  they  have  found  expression  in 
the  past.  The  theologians  who  have  exercised 
the  greatest  influence  on  Professor  Seeberg 
are  Schleiermacher,  Baur,  and  Hofmann  ;  he 
is  also  in  sympathy  with  Ritschl,  but  is  out  of 
touch  with  the  developments  of  Ritschlianism 
as  it  is  exhibited  in  the  Ritschlian  school. 
He  blames  them  for  an  anti  -  metaphysical 
agnosticism  and  historicism ;  he  considers  their 


xii  INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

history   too   modern   and   their   thought    not 
modern  enough.     He  objects  to  the  Ritschhan 
principle  of  isolating  theology  from  the  other 
sciences,  especially  from  metaphysics.     Theo- 
logy must  be  presented  in  the  form  of  a  general 
conception  of  the  world ;   it  is  therefore  im- 
possible for  it  to  attempt   to   dispense   with 
metaphysics.     On  the  other  hand,  he  is  at  one 
with  Ritschl  and  his  followers  in  emphasising 
the  practical  character  of  the  Christian  religion. 
Religion,  in  Dr  Seeberg's  view,  is  the  will  of 
God  ruling  and  directing  the  will  of  man  ;  or, 
regarded  from  the  human  standpoint,  it  is  the 
will  of  man  attempting  in  the  spirit  of  faith  and 
love  to  realise  the  supreme  purposes  of  God. 
But  when  the  essentially  practical  character  of 
religion  has  to  be  presented  theoretically  as  a 
doctrinal  system — and,  in  Dr  Seeberg's  opinion, 
it  must,  even  for  practical  purposes,  be  em- 
bodied in  a  doctrinal  system — a  metaphysical 
background  to  this  doctrinal  system  becomes 
a  matter  of  necessity. 

W.  D.  M. 


CONTENTS 


THE   TRUTH   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN    RELIGION 


LBCTURE 

1.  Origin  and  Nature  of  Religion 

2.  The  Religions  of  Mankind  and  the   Absolute 

Religion      ..... 

3.  Christianity  as  the  Absolute  Religion 

4.  The  Proof  of  the  Absolute  Religion 

5.  Faith  and  Love         .... 

6.  Christianity  as  Positive  Religion     . 

7.  Church  Dogma 


PAGE 
1 

17 
34 
55 
73 
94 
115 


II 


THE   TRUTHS   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN   RELIGION 


8.  The  Revelation  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  .      135 

9.  Man   Free  and  God  All-operative  .  .  .154 

10.  The  Nature  of  Human  Sin      .         .         .  .173 

xiii 


xiv  CONTENTS 

lboture  pagk 

11.  Origin  and  Spread  of  Sin;  The  Redeemer  of 

Sinners 192 

12.  The  Person  of  Jesus  Christ    .         .         .         .211 

13.  The  Work  of  Christ 237 

14.  The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ    ....     264 

15.  The  Origin  and  Development  of  the  New  Life 

OF  the  Christian 289 

16.  The  Moral  Struggle  for  the   New  Life  and 

its  Goal 307 


I 

THE  TRUTH  OF 
THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 


The  Fundamental   Truths   of 
the  Christian   Religion 

LECTURE  I 

Origin  and  Nature  of  Religion 

The  course  of  lectures  that  I  begin  to-day  is 
not  one  of  the  ordinary  academic  courses  :  it  is 
a  theological  course  for  students  of  all  faculties.  , 
It  may  be  some  ten  years  since  the  thought  of 
such  a  course  first  occurred  to  me,  so  it  has 
amply  stood  Horace's  test.  It  is  a  source  of 
gratification  to  me  to  enter  upon  its  realisation 
to-day.  May  it  end  well !  Nil  carum  nisi 
quod  prodest. 

My   intention   is    to   give   a  statement   of 
Christianity    as    religion,    as    I     understand 

Christianity,  and   as,  in  my  opinion,  it   can 

1 


2      TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

and  should  be  made  accessible  to  the  under- 
standing of  the  educated  of  our  day.  My 
purpose  is  neither  polemic  nor  apologetic.  I 
wish  to  bring  a  subject  near  to  you  which 
interests,  or  at  least  should  interest,  every 
educated  person,  ay,  every  man  of  culture,  in 
the  same  degree — I  mean  the  Christian  religion. 
The  subject  shall  speak  for  itself;  if  it  does 
not,  then  the  refutation  of  other  views  or 
apologetic  persuasion  is  quite  useless.  To 
what  purpose  dig  trenches  and  cast  up 
ramparts,  if  the  garrison  of  the  stronghold 
have  lost  faith  in  their  cause? 

The  unbelief  of  which  we  hear  complaints 
to-day  has  various  roots.  One  of  the  most 
visible  is  remarkably  seldom  seen.  It  is  the 
terrible  and  positively  shameful  ignorance  of 
our  educated  classes  in  religious  things. 
Ignorance  prevents  interest,  and  want  of 
interest  shuts  out  knowledge.  Criticism  is 
passed  without  due  knowledge,  and  admira- 
tion is  felt  without  real  interest  in  the  facts. 
All  is  insipid  and  stale,  precisely  because  it 


ORIGIN  AND  NATURE  OF  RELIGION       3 

is  not  understood.  To  spread  knowledge  of 
these  things  may  perhaps  serve  the  cause  of 
religious  faith  also.  It  is  because  I  hold  that 
this  faith  transforms  souls  and  exalts  spirits 
that  I  speak  of  it  to  you. 

Before  treating  of  the  Christian  religion,  a 
clear  statement  of  the  conception  of  religion 
in  general  must  be  given.  So  the  subject  for 
present  consideration  is  the  oiigin  and  nature 
of  religion. 

The  historical  origin  of  the  highest  posses- 
sions of  mankind  is  shrouded  in  deep  darkness. 
We  know  not  the  beginnings  of  human  culture, 
of  justice,  of  morals,  of  religion. 

There  was  a  time  when  it  appeared  easy  to 
talk  of  the  origin  and  nature  of  religion. 
Mankind,  it  was  said,  is  endowed  by  nature 
with  definite  fundamental  conceptions.  The 
best  ideas  and  ideals  are  innate  in  our  minds, 
or  the  mind  is  so  constituted  that  it  must 
work  them  out  conformably  to  nature. 
Coarseness  and  infatuation,  deceit  and  thirst 
for   power,    have,   it   is   true,   defaced   them; 


4      TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

but  away  down  at  the  bottom  of  the  simple, 
unperverted  heart  they  slumber  in  primitive 
beauty.  So  the  ideas  God,  Freedom,  Virtue, 
Immortality  also  are  said  to  be  innate  in 
the  mind.  That  is  the  Religion  of  Nature, 
of  Rationalism.  We  know  now  that  it  is 
just  as  much  a  scientific  figment  as,  for 
example,  innate  right,  the  "  Natural  Rights." 
A  glance  at  the  great  differences  in  historical 
religions  —  differences  which  affect,  not  the 
shell,  but  the  kernel — confirms  this.  There  is 
no  innate  natural  religion  any  more  than  there 
are  innate  ideas  in  general. 

So  the  attempt  was  made  to  answer  the 
question  otherwise :  religion  is  not  innate,  but 
follows  of  necessity  from  the  nature  of  mind. 
The  mind  carries  in  itself  the  consciousness  of 
infinity,  but  is  itself  not  infinite,  so  must 
necessarily  assume  an  infinite  outside  itself. 
It  chose  the  most  magnificent  and  splendid 
that  this  world  offered  as  bearer  and  symbol 
of  the  Infinite.  The  sun  and  the  stars  or  the 
bright  sky  had   to  represent   the  Infinite,  or 


ORIGIN  AND  NATURE  OF  RELIGION       5 

they  became  gods.  But  at  this  **  or  "  we  stop. 
The  equation,  the  Infinite  is  God,  is  erroneous. 
The  Infinite  is  a  logical  conception,  but  God  is 
a  living  being.  It  is  easy  to  understand  how 
those  who  thought  of  God  should  apply  to 
Him  the  idea  of  Infinity  ;  but  the  opposite — 
how  the  abstract,  Infinity,  produces  the  living 
God — remains  unintelligible.  The  Infinite  is 
not  in  itself  a  living,  personal  being. 

Lately  another  answer  to  the  question  has 
found  favour.  Darwin's  Evolution  Theory 
has  transferred  its  triumphal  march  from  the 
sphere  of  the  natural  sciences  to  history.  It 
is  a  great  thought,  having  its  roots  finally  in 
Hegel's  philosophy,  that  Being  is  a  Becoming, 
that  it  is  not  by  external  addition  that  the 
living  grows  and  increases,  but  by  inner  develop- 
ment, by  "  Evolution."  But  then  at  the  begin- 
ning must  always  stand  the  simple,  and  this  is 
forthwith  made  equivalent  to  the  crude  and 
the  low.  The  crudest  form  of  religion  will  be 
the  oldest.  Out  of  it,  by  a  widening  of  the 
horizon  and  a  clearing  of  men's  thoughts,  all 


6      TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

other  forms  must  have  evolved  by  immanent 
necessity. 

The  crudest  form  of  religion  is  Animism  or 
Fetishism.  Man  supposes  that  everywhere  in 
the  world  there  are  souls  like  his  own.  These 
souls  are  potent  or  impotent,  well-disposed  or 
ill-disposed.  As  the  human  soul  chose  the 
sensuous  body  for  a  home,  so  these  souls  too 
made  choice  of  some  sensuous  object  for 
a  dwelling.  They  can  work,  do  injury  or 
be  serviceable.  Therefore  they  are  to  be 
flattered  and  have  honour  shown  to  them. 
Gradually  man  attained  to  a  deeper  con- 
sciousness of  the  power  around  him.  Out 
of  these  spirits  arose  the  gods ;  from  Poly- 
d£emonism  came  Polytheism.  And  then  man- 
kind felt  that  the  multiplicity  of  powers  is  a 
united  power.  From  Polytheism  was  born 
Monotheism,  which  ran  through  many  stages 
and  stripped  off  various  husks  till  it  reached 
its  highest  stage  in  Christianity. 

This  picture  does  not,  however,  represent  a 
course  of  history  that  has  been  rendered  sure 


ORIGIN  AND  NATURE  OF  RELIGION       7 

by  any  authorities,  but  exhibits  a  system  of 
historical  hypotheses.  But  to  wander  with  the 
seven-league  boots  of  possibility  through  the 
ocean  of  the  possible,  affords  but  uncertain 
prospect  of  landing  on  the  shore  of  reality. 
There  are  many  objections  to  this  representa- 
tion, though  as  yet  the  attempts  to  clear  it 
out  of  the  way  have  been  unsuccessful.  The 
history  of  religion  in  no  way  affords  us  only 
phenomena  which  witness  to  a  straight  line  of 
progress,  but  marks  of  retrogression  as  well. 
Fetishism  and  spirit- worship,  magic  and  super- 
stition, are  not  wanting  even  at  the  height  of 
development,  but  they  show  that  a  further 
development  is  not  possible.  Likewise  it 
is  difficult,  according  to  this  theory,  to 
comprehend  how  present-day  races  that  can 
look  back  over  a  long  period  of  existence  can 
do  homage  to  this  Fetishism,  if  it  came  at  the 
very  beginning.  Have  these  races  experienced 
no  evolution  at  all  ?  This  would  not  agree 
with  what  missionaries  tell  us  of  the  presence 
of  higher  ideas  among  them,  which  witness  to 


8      TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

the  belief  in  an  all-powerful  Deity.  One  has 
but  to  think,  for  example,  of  the  "  Great 
Spirit "  of  the  Indians  ;  and  similar  and  clearer 
ideas  occur  among  quite  crude  negro  races. 
They  are  called  fossils,  and  that  may  be  right ; 
but  fossils  are  witnesses  to  a  once  organic  life. 
And  finally,  even  here  it  is  not  at  all  clear  how 
out  of  these  spirits  striving  with  each  other, 
which  were  created  after  the  image  of  man, 
arose  the  God  who  created  man  after  His 
image. 

The  question  as  to  the  origin  of  religion  is 
not  answered.  It  is  identical  with  that  other 
as  to  the  origin  of  the  thought  of  God.  We 
cannot  see  how  the  thought  of  God  could 
be  the  result  of  man's  contemplation  of  the 
world,  of  his  dim  consciousness  of  laws  and 
order  in  it.  We  have  no  analogy  for  this  ; 
we  may  watch  the  development  in  the  stream 
of  the  spirit-life,  and  nowhere  in  its  course 
does  it  wash  up  this  pearl  upon  the  bank. 
On  the  contrary,  always  and  everywhere 
comes   the   thought  of  God   before  us  as   a 


ORIGIN  AND  NATURE  OF  RELIGION       9 

presupposition  of  the  thought  and  interpreta- 
tion of  the  universe.  God  stands  over  against 
the  world ;  there  is  a  world  above  (Uber- 
welt)  which  is  not  world,  which  combats  the 
world  and  is  combated  by  it.  Above  the 
world  there  is  a  something  which  mankind  in 
dim  surmise  and  recognition  apprehends  with 
fear  and  joy.  It  is  inconceivable  how  from 
the  world  or  from  his  own  soul  man  should 
produce  this  thought  which,  in  its  historical 
realisation,  ever  presents  itself  as  a  gift  from 
above.  Imagine  the  primitive  man  moved  by 
that  awe  before  the  universe  that  lays  hold  of 
our  soul  when  we  stand  lonely  over  against 
the  All ;  or  think  of  his  soul  inspired  by 
that  breath  of  longing  after  the  fountains 
and  breasts  of  the  All.  Perhaps  he  came 
thereby  to  the  dream  of  such  as  he  in  the 
murmuring  fountain,  the  shady  tree,  the  fruit- 
ful mould ;  but  that  is  not  God.  It  remains 
severed  by  an  endless  distance  from  the 
thought  of  God. 

Our  conceptions  grow  out  of  observations 


10    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

and  experiences.  The  world  is  the  scene  of 
action  of  these  observations.  But  out  of  the 
mazy  hieroglyphics  of  the  world-phenomena 
the  thought  of  God  cannot  be  deciphered. 
Then  it  must  be  given  to  man  fi'om  outside ; 
from  outside  as  the  content  of  his  soul  in 
general  comes  to  him  from  outside. 

There  is  an  old  suggestive  story  which  has 
the  object  of  explaining  how  that  happened. 
In  the  still  evening  hour,  when  the  wind 
rustled  mysteriously  in  the  tree-tops,  God 
walked  in  the  garden  where  the  first-created 
dwelt.  The  story  is  not  history  in  our  sense, 
but  it  gives  us  a  solution  of  the  problem 
before  us  in  childlike,  pious  legend.  Mankind 
received  the  thought  of  God,  and  therewith 
religion  in  that  God  made  Himself  sensible  to 
them.  There  happened  something  external  and 
sensuous  which  made  necessary  man's  thought 
of  the  invisible  God.  It  may  be  called  the 
original  revelation.  Nothing  more  definite 
can  be  said  about  it,  but  it  is  not  impossible, 
provided  an  operative  God  is  assumed. 


ORIGIN  AND  NATURE  OF  RELIGION     11 

But  never  would  mankind  have  found  the 
thought  of  God  from  this  experience,  what- 
ever the  nature  of  it  was,  unless  the  spirit  of 
man  had  been  predisposed  to  this  thought. 
"Man  comprehends  only  what  is  in  con- 
formity to  his  nature,"  said  Goethe  once; 
otherwise  expressed,  there  can  be  no  re- 
ligion unless  man  is  capable  of  subjective 
religiousness. 

We  call  a  sum  of  conceptions  and  dogmas, 
of  moral  rules  and  institutions,  of  forms  and 
formul£e,  religion.  But  religion  lives  only 
where  men  experience  all  this  as  power  and 
content  of  the  soul.  The  moment  a  religion 
becomes  purely  objective,  and  this  subjective 
element  becomes  extinct,  the  religion  is  dead. 
Religions  have  always  died  when  they  became 
purely  objective — religion  without  religious- 
ness. 

But  it  can  come  to  religiousness  only  if 
religion — above  all,  the  thought  of  God — is 
in  *'  conformity  "  with  the  mind.  If  religion 
were  something  irrational  or  unintelligible,  it 


12    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

would  not  exist.     What  points  of  connexion 
has  it,  then,  in  the  nature  of  man  ? 

Man's  relation  to  the  world  is  twofold. 
He  perceives  the  world  as  something  opera- 
tive and  himself  as  purely  operated  on.  Man, 
as  he  thinks  and  feels,  is  the  last  effect  of  that 
vast  system  of  causes  and  effects  which  we 
call  world.  He  is  passive,  absolutely  depend- 
ent on  the  compact  surrounding  mass  of  the 
world  -  system.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  he 
stands  active  over  against  the  world,  setting 
up  ends  for  himself  and  turning  all  that  meets 
him  to  means  for  the  realisation  of  those  ends. 
He  is  not  only  operated  upon,  but  he  himself 
operates.  As  free  mind  he  stands  over  against 
the  universe  and  masters  it.  Blind  action,  the 
colossal  weight  of  the  existing,  all  splendour 
and  all  magnificence,  all  enigmas  and  all  ob- 
jects of  terror — these  serve  for  the  realisation 
of  the  purposes  of  mind.  It  is  precisely  in  our 
own  age,  an  age  of  vast,  undreamt-of  mastery 
of  the  powers  of  nature  by  mind,  that  we 
understand  with  immediate  vividness  this  posi- 


ORIGIN  AND  NATURE  OF  RELIGION     13 

tion  of  man.  Man  as  he  stands  over  against 
the  world,  is  at  each  moment  its  alpha  and  its 
omega,  beginning  and  end.  He  is  the  result 
of  its  effects,  and  he  is  the  originator  of  quite 
new  effects.  Such  is  man  in  his  loftiness  and 
in  his  lowliness :  Prometheus  with  the  fire, 
Prometheus  with  the  chain  ! 

But  now  the  soul  that  feels  itself  dependent 
on  what  lies  far  below  it,  cries  after  depend- 
ence on  something  that  is  above  it.  And  the 
soul  that  feels  in  itself  the  impulse  to  make 
tracks  through  the  primeval  forest  of  reality 
for  fixed  ends,  strives  after  a  very  great,  stable, 
and  sure  end.  The  soul  does  not  find  satis- 
faction in  any  kind  of  dependence  ;  what  it 
wants  is  to  be  dependent  on  something  that 
lays  the  feeling  of  dependence  in  the  deepest 
depths, — to  be  dependent  on  an  ultimate  per- 
sonal Spirit.  Nor  is  it  content  with  all  the 
possibilities  of  making  roads  in  the  primeval 
forest ;  it  can  do  more  and  demands  a  sure 
goal.  In  the  highest  heights  and  at  the 
furthest  distance  this  goal  must  lie,  if  it  is  to 


14    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

bring  contentment  to  the  soul ;  that  is,  the 
whole  impulse  to  action  within  must  be 
released  in  action.  Only  when  this  has  been 
done  does  the  soul  understand  its  own  longing 
and  striving  thereafter ;  only  when  we  know 
the  truth  do  we  comprehend  that  our  unrest 
before  was  the  seeking  after  truth  ;  only  when 
there  comes  into  us  the  life  of  the  Spirit  ft-om 
above  do  we  understand  that  the  Spirit  from 
above  is  necessary  for  us,  because  we  are 
spirit. 

And  now  there  lays  hold  of  the  life  of  the 
soul  a  power  which  it  feels  immediately  as  the 
absolute  power  of  spirit ;  and  before  the  eye 
that  looks  searchingly  into  the  distance  there 
rises  a  goal  gigantic  yet  perceptible,  impossible 
yet  possible,  above  our  power  yet  ours.  Man 
feels  the  power  of  God,  and  this  authority  sets 
and  gives  him  a  goal  which  releases  the  spiritual 
power  in  him,  and  strains  it  to  the  utmost,  and 
which  precisely  on  that  account  satisfies. 

That  is  religion.  It  is  always  a  gift  and 
always  a  task.     As  the  God,  so  the  gift ;  and 


ORIGIN  AND  NATURE  OF  RELIGION      15 

as  the  gift,  so  the  task.  God  gives  the  gift 
and  with  it  the  task.  Their  forms  change, 
but  the  experience  of  the  power  of  the  Deity 
and  the  submission  to  it  is  common  to  all. 
There  is  a  difference  drawn  between  nature 
religions,  moral  or  legal  religions,  and  re- 
demptive religions.  It  may  be  made  clear  on 
this  customary  division  what  we  mean.  In 
the  nature  religions  the  Deity  is  more  power- 
ful than  man,  but  changeful  and  capricious  as 
he ;  is  operative  in  the  production  of  purely 
natural  gifts,  such  as  fruitfulness  and  success 
in  war,  and  sets  therefore  only  such  tasks  as 
fall  in  the  sphere  of  natural  life.  In  the  moral 
religion  the  Deity  is  overwhelmingly  powerful, 
exalted  above  nature,  just  in  character,  giving 
men  the  moral  laws,  and  thereby  setting  them 
the  task  of  obediently  fulfilling  precepts, 
morals,  rites  and  customs.  In  the  redemptive 
rehgion  the  Deity  is  almighty,  or  is  the  all- 
operative  power  that  out  of  love  redeems 
mankind,  that  frees  the  soul  from  the  pressure 
and  service  of  the  world,  and  thereby  moves  it 


16    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

to  eternal  tasks  and  ends  above  the  world. 
The  world  above  has  laid  hold  upon  the 
soul. 

We  have  defined  the  nature  of  religion  and 
understood  that  its  nature  corresponds  to  the 
nature  of  our  spirit.  Hence  religion  can 
become  religiousness.  The  purpose  of  religion 
is  not  to  lower,  not  to  destroy  and  annul  our 
free  spirit-life,  but  to  give  us  that  life,  or  raise 
it  to  its  perfection.  Our  spirit  cries  after 
religion ;    our  nature  needs  religion. 

But  no  religion  without  religiousness.  Re- 
ligiousness is  the  power  and  the  life  of  religion. 


LECTURE  II 

The  Religions  of  Mankind  and  the 
Absolute  Religion 

The  results  of  the  former  lecture  may  be 
gathered  up  in  a  few  short  sentences.  Re- 
ligious thoughts,  above  all  the  conception  of 
God,  are  not  innate  in  the  mind  of  man.  But 
the  human  mind  is  naturally  capacitated  for 
religion,  because  it  is  made  for  religiousness : 
in  the  first  place,  so  far  as  it  requires  a 
supernatural,  spiritual,  and  almighty  Being  in 
whom  the  disposition  to  dependence  finds 
satisfaction  ;  and  secondly,  in  so  far  as  it  needs 
a  final  supramundane  goal  for  the  exertion  of 
its  activity.  The  conception  of  God  ennobles 
the  dependence  of  man,  and  the  supramundane 
goal  regulates  the  impulse  towards  an  end. 

17  ^ 


18    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

It  lies  quite  beyond  the  scope  of  the  present 
course  to  follow  the  various  phases  which 
religion  and  religiousness  have  gone  through 
in  the  course  of  a  long  and  excessively  compli- 
cated development. 

The  human  mind  assimilates  new  thoughts 
only  when  it  relates  them  to  its  former  mental 
content.  In  general,  the  observation  may  be 
shown  to  be  well  founded  in  religion  too,  that 
the  human  mind  was  striving  to  bring  the 
thought  of  God  given  to  it  into  the  closest 
relation  to  the  system  of  the  universe.  Both 
from  wish  and  of  necessity  a  point  of  connec- 
tion with  the  known  must  be  found.  In 
proportion  as  the  vivacity  of  the  consciousness 
of  God  disappeared  and  man  perceived  the 
knowable  and  the  unknowable  in  the  world, 
God  was  drawn  into  the  world  ;  whether  it  was 
that  men  looked  on  the  shining  stars  as  gods, 
or  that  they  endeavoured  to  find  the  Deity  in 
the  changing  life  of  nature — in  the  tender 
awakening  of  spring,  the  iron  reign  of  winter, 
the   magnificence   of  the   starry    sky    or   the 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  MANKIND  19 

regularity  of  its  movement — or  that  they  chose 
single  objects  of  nature  and  raised  them  to  be 
bearers  of  the  divine  life  ;  or  finally — here  the 
evolution  reached  its  height  —  that  they  felt 
the  world-order  to  be  divine  and  represented 
the  Deity  as  world-spirit.  But  amid  all  these 
changes  the  consciousness  remained — however 
much  the  Deity  was  drawn  down  into  the 
world — that  the  Deity  is  not  the  world,  but 
in  some  way  or  other  leads  an  independent 
supramundane  life,  possessing  powers  and  gifts 
that  the  world  does  not  have.  There  was, 
finally,  always  a  feeling  of  God  that  contained 
more  and  went  deeper  than  the  worldly 
symbols  which  were  made  use  of  to  express 
the  conceptions  of  the  divine  and  represent 
the  gods. 

Along  with  this  development  there  naturally 
took  place  a  variety  of  formation  in  the  religious 
life  and  in  the  moral  ideals. 

The  process  we  have  been  considering  is  a 
marvellous  one.  Everywhere  there  is  a 
vast  increase  and  expansion  of  religious  con- 


20    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

ceptions  and  orders.  There  are  always  new 
gods  being  found,  always  new  means  of  grace 
being  discovered,  always  new  modes  of  serving 
the  Deity  coming  in.  These  creations  have 
an  extraordinary  persistence.  Once  there  they 
can  be  eradicated  only  with  difficulty.  This 
fact  sets  one  thinking  that  in  the  Christian 
Church  no  dogma  has  really  died  out. 

But  this  enormous  increase  in  religious 
matter  is  not  seldom  met  in  history  by 
another  movement,  namely  to  reduce  the 
mass  to  simple  fundamental  forms,  to  separate 
the  main  points  from  the  side  issues  and  to 
secure  their  authority.  Every  reformation  in 
religion — and  almost  every  religion  that  has  a 
history  experiences  reformations — has  such  a 
simplification  in  view.  When  the  tree  in  full 
vigour  grows  to  the  height,  the  old  branches 
below  often  wither  and  die. 

It  was  not  our  purpose  to  speak  of  the 
history  of  religion ;  still,  a  few  words  must  be 
devoted  to  the  close  of  the  ancient  evolution. 
We  speak  of  the  **  fulness  of  the  times."     By 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  MANKIND  21 

this  biblical  expression  we  understand  the  age 
in  which  the  world  had  become  ripe  to  receive 
Christianity.  We  have  to  do  with  the  Graeco- 
Roman  world  of  culture,  which  represents  at 
the  same  time  the  result  of  the  religious 
development  of  the  old  humanity.  It  is  well 
known  from  history  what  a  mixed  multitude 
of  religions  bore  sway  at  this  time.  But  with 
the  positive  religions  there  contended,  as  is 
not  seldom  at  the  end  of  an  epoch  of  culture, 
the  philosophic  religion  of  the  Enlightened. 
Think,  for  example,  on  the  eclectic  philosophy 
of  a  Cicero,  or  the  Stoic  ideas  of  an  Epictetus 
and  a  Seneca.  In  them  the  feelings  of  the 
best  and  the  tendencies  of  the  advancing  spirits 
found  support  and  foundation.  They  laboured 
to  save  the  universal  in  religion,  while  they 
rejected  the  positive.  But  with  the  positive 
sank  also  the  power  of  religion. 

Neither  the  flood  of  ancient  superstitions  nor 
of  brand-new  mysteries,  nor  yet  philosophic 
ideas,  afforded  the  heart  what  it  sought,  the 
spirit  and  power,  motive  and  goal,  peace  and 


22    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

active  energy.  A  terrible  fear,  a  restless  long- 
ing and  striving,  goes  through  the  time.  In 
the  ages  which  precede  the  great  epochs  of 
history  the  poor  soul  arises  to  make  a  journey 
through  the  universe.  Literature  voices  its 
impressions  in  affecting  tones.  The  soul  had 
gone  forth  to  seek  after  the  first  and  the  last, 
after  God  and  the  goal  of  existence.  And  the 
soul  travelled  from  god  to  god,  from  faith  to 
faith,  from  goal  to  goal,  but  w^hat  it  found 
was  not  its  God  and  not  its  goal. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  "conceptions,"  of 
'*  doctrines,"  or  of  "  systems,"  nor  of  forms  and 
formulae  in  such  ages  of  soul  hunger,  but  of  a 
new  attitude,  and  a  new  and  living  content, 
of  the  soul.  In  the  chaos  of  real  life  that 
surrounds  it  and  tears  its  own  life  with  it 
into  the  whirlpool,  the  soul  wants  to  attain  to 
a  firm  stand  where  a  well  of  living  water  and 
bread  of  life  are  to  be  found.  It  seeks  a 
traversable  path  through  the  wall  of  mist 
before  it.     It  is  life  that  the  soul  demands. 

And  the  soul  could  not  live  from  what  the 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  MANKIND  23 

age  offered.  The  age  was  dominated  by  the 
spirit  of  Greece.  Plato  had  taught  to  recog- 
nise the  reality  of  the  world  in  a  cosmos  of 
transcendent  Ideas.  Speculative  meditation 
on  these  Ideas,  spiritual  contemplation  of  the 
first  causes  of  being,  was  the  highest  meaning 
of  life.  Alongside  there  stood  from  the  be- 
ginning a  world  of  small  and  near  ends.  To 
do  what  was  required  by  the  law,  the  state, 
the  order  of  life  and  piety,  or  particular 
systems  of  virtue,  was  the  task  of  life.  It  is 
remarkable  how  small  the  world  of  ends  of 
the  ancients  was  when  measured  by  the  com- 
pass of  their  ideas.  They  had  ideas,  but  they 
were  poor  in  ideals.  The  highest  conceptions 
of  thought  are  ideas,  the  highest  conceptions 
of  action  are  ideals.  Even  to-day  we  live 
from  the  ideas  of  the  ancients ;  our  ideals, 
on  the  contrary,  come  almost  entirely  from 
Christianity. 

The  ideas  lay  far  off  in  the  transcendent 
fields  of  metaphysics  :  the  highest  point  of  the 
metaphysical  pyramid  was  the  thought  of  God 


24    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

wrapped  in  the  mountain  mists  of  absolute 
distance,  lifeless,  unreal.  And  the  ideals  lay- 
so  near,  were  so  small  and  petty  in  relation 
to  that  giant  pyramid  of  ideas,  living  and  real, 
it  is  true,  but  only  for  the  commonplace  life. 

But  the  soul  needs  a  near  God  and  far  off 
ideals.  The  nearer  the  spiritual  life  of  a 
person  advances  to  us,  the  more  powerfully 
are  we  sensitive  of  it,  the  more  easily  is  our 
receptivity,  the  disposition  to  spiritual  com- 
munion and  inner  dependence,  to  spiritual 
reception  satisfied.  The  further  the  ends  lie, 
the  longer  the  chain  of  means  needed  for  their 
realisation,  the  more  powerfully  and  the  more 
conformably  to  nature  are  the  active  powers 
of  our  soul  exerted.  The  old  world  led  the 
opposite  way.  God  was  afar  off,  but  the  ends 
near.  Receptivity  remained  unsatisfied  and 
activity  retained  unreleased  in  itself  a  surplus 
of  restless,  just  because  unexerted,  powers. 
The  soul  remained  fettered;  the  Spirit  from 
above  of  which  it  dimly  dreamt  did  not  loose 
the  fetters. 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  MANKIND  25 

That  was  the  "fulness  of  the  times,"  the 
end  of  the  ancient  rehgions.  When  the  poor 
soul  marches  through  the  world,  then  the 
foundations  of  the  temples  and  the  images  of 
the  idols  on  the  altars,  the  pyramids  of  meta- 
physics and  the  thresholds  of  current  morals 
tremble.  To  the  '*  gods  of  Greece  "  ^  the  soul 
put  the  question  about  life.  They  could  give 
no  answer.  It  was  the  "  end  of  the  gods  of 
Greece." 

It  was  at  this  time  that  a  religion  came 
forward  asserting  a  claim  which  no  other 
religion  has  made  with  such  pointedness.  The 
claim  of  absoluteness  belongs  to  the  very 
nature  of  religion,  and  is  therefore  wanting  in 
none.  Therewith  religion  always  founds  its 
claim  to  be  the  world  above  as  against  the 
world.  But  the  Christian  religion  put  forward 
the  claim  to  be  the  absolute  religion  in  oppo- 
sition to  all  the  other  religions  of  mankind. 

To   realise   the    weight    of    this   claim   we 

1  "  Die  Gotter  Griechenlands,"  title  of  a  poem  by 
Schiller 


26    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

must  keep  in  mind  a  historical  fact.  In  the 
Pantheon  of  the  Roman  state  all  religions 
found  a  place  and  all  religions  tolerated  one 
another.  Each  passed  for  an  authoritative  ex- 
pression of  the  Absolute.  The  Roman  state 
was  highly  civilised.  It  did  not  persecute 
arbitrarily  the  confessors  of  religions ;  it  was 
tolerant,  but  in  spite  of  all  tolerance  it  per- 
secuted the  Christians,  and  it  did  so  because 
they  asserted  that  they  possessed  the  one 
absolute  religion. 

We  are  carried  further.  The  question  is  to 
test  the  significance  of  this  claim.  It  could  be 
expressed  in  different  forms.  It  could  be 
taught  that  no  man  knows  God  except  he  to 
whom  Christ  reveals  Him,  or  that  only  in  the 
name  of  Jesus  is  there  salvation  for  all  that  are 
on  the  earth  or  under  the  earth.  It  could  be 
said,  the  gods  of  the  heathen  are  demons, 
heathen  religion  and  morality  are  immoral. 
Christianity  could  be  praised  as  the  single 
"  sure  and  useful  Philosophy."  It  was  possible 
to  teach  "  outside  the    Church  no  salvation," 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  MANKIND  27 

and  to  set  the  world  as  the  kingdom  of  the 
devil  over  against  the  divine  kingdom  of  the 
Church.  When  we  look  at  the  inner  kernel, 
all  that  means  the  same  thing. 

But  what  was  wanted,  then  ?  There  was 
the  conviction  that  the  Christian  rehgion  is 
the  only  true  one,  that  it  alone  can  give  peace 
and  blessedness  to  all  men,  all  ranks,  all  ages, 
all  callings,  all  nations,  all  times.  Christ  alone 
makes  blessed.  That  holds  not  only  of  the 
final  destiny,  but  also  of  this  life.  Christ 
alone  makes  men  perfect  men.  He  alone  gives 
to  all  peace  and  action.  From  Him  alone  goes 
forth  power,  happiness,  life,  and  blessedness. 
**  Come  unto  Me,  ye  that  labour  and  are  heavy 
laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest."  "  I  am  the 
Bread  of  Life."  "  I  am  the  Way,  and  the 
Truth,  and  the  Life."  "  He  that  believeth 
on  Me,  though  he  die,  yet  shall  he  live." 
Christ  alone  is  the  Lord;  He  is  the  sun- 
hero,  and  all  the  religions  of  mankind  are  the 
dark  cloud-dragon  which  He  pierces  through. 
Christianity  is  the  tribunal  over  all  religions, 


28    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

and  the  Christians  are  their  judges.  Nothing 
has  real  lasting  worth  in  life  apart  from  Christ 
and  the  service  that  is  rendered  to  Him.  The 
"  imitation  of  Christ  "  is  life.  In  His  service 
all  other  ties  of  life  may  be  considered  small. 
Yes,  one  is  to  **  hate  father  and  mother "  for 
His  sake.  A  man's  eternal  destiny  depends 
on  whether  he  has  served  or  resisted  Him. 

In  this  judgment  there  is  still  a  final  point 
contained.  It  is  the  conviction  that  Christian- 
ity cannot  be  surpassed ;  that  is,  that  all  de- 
velopment of  the  human  spirit  and  all  deep 
insight  into  the  nature  of  the  spirit  and  of  the 
world  will  not  be  able  to  make  the  soul  richer 
or  to  give  it  a  new  enduring  standpoint.  "In 
Christ  are  hid  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and 
knowledge  "  ;  and  more  than  that,  He  is  "  the 
Life  of  the  world."  On  this  passage  one  might 
set  forth  the  whole  Christian  religion,  as  we 
mean  to  do  in  the  second  part  of  this  course 
and  then  to  prove  those  claims  of  Christianity 
justified.  But  the  reality  of  Christianity  and 
its   essential    contents    may    be    presupposed 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  MANKIND  29 

as  known  by  all,  and  so  the  proof  for  the  claim 
of  Christianity  can  be  anticipated.  The  par- 
ticulars will  be  investigated  later  from  this 
point  of  view. 

These  claims  are  enormous,  and  they  will 
seem  at  first  monstrous  to  many.  For  they 
mean  nothing  less,  do  they  not,  than  that  each 
soul  remains  empty  and  poor,  without  content 
or  blessedness,  crude  and  imperfect,  that  does 
not  have  thoughts  of  Christ  and  have  His  life 
for  content  ?  It  is  not  at  present  our  task  to 
defend  these  claims,  much  less  to  give  them  a 
new  interpretation.  Christ  was  not  the  mild, 
amiable  man  that  in  many  ways  we  make  Him 
to-day.  If  anything  is  historically  certain,  it 
is  that  Christ  felt  Himself  to  be  the  Lord  of 
the  world,  that  He  made  the  salvation  of  men 
or  its  opposite  depend  on  Himself.  He,  He 
Himself  was  the  Gospel,  the  new  glad  tidings 
He  brought.  That  cannot  be  explained  away 
— cannot,  according  to  favourite  apologetic 
manner,  be  toned  down  into  the  modern  idea. 
With  this  claim  of  an  unsurpassable  exalted- 


30    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

ness,  and  with  this  demand  for  a  terrible 
earnestness,  is  Christianity  come  into  the  world, 
and  through  this  demand  it  has  conquered. 
We  have  to  deal  here  with  purely  historical 
facts,  not  to  pass  judgment ;  but  we  do  not 
mean  to  occupy  ourselves  with  apologetics  in 
the  current  sense  :  that  can  be  done  from  very 
different  standpoints. 

But,  I  hear  someone  say,  that  that  is  his- 
torically so  no  one  can  well  deny.  But  can 
the  question  then  be  discussed  any  further  ? 
We  have  so  often  complained  of  the  "  intoler- 
ance "  of  the  Church ;  we  have  inwardly 
turned  away  with  the  feeling  of  the  well- 
known  Canadian  from  the  awful  fundamental 
proposition,  "  outside  the  Church  no  salvation  " 
— and  now  it  is  said  Christ  thought  so  Himself. 
What  confidence  can  we  have  in  a  man  who 
so  goes  right  in  the  face  of  moral  tolerance  ? 

It  is  said  that  is  intolerant,  and  thereby  it  is 
thought  much  has  been  said,  for  the  truth 
must  be  tolerant. 

One   point  first  of  all.     It  was  not  Christ 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  MANKIND  31 

that  said,  outside  the  organised  Churcii,  with 
all  its  dogmas  and  ordinances,  there  is  no 
salvation,  for  He  did  not  yet  know  such  a 
Church.  And  that  the  opposer  of  the  Phari- 
sees and  Sadducees  with  their  "  tradition " 
was  no  man  of  dogmas,  of  forms  and  formulae, 
needs  not  to  be  said.  Christ's  view  took  in 
the  whole,  the  first  and  the  last.  Christ  made 
salvation  dependent  on  communion  with  His 
person  and  His  life.  Is  that  an  intolerance 
which  is  incompatible  with  truth  ? 

What  then  is  tolerance  ?  There  is  a  toler- 
ance which  grows  on  the  basis  of  scepticism. 
Lessing's  Nathan  the  Wise  is  the  type  of  it. 
Who  knows,  it  is  said,  what  is  truth  ?  Every 
view  should  really  be  tolerated.  But  in  reality 
this  is  not  done.  Lessing's  judgments  on  the 
Christians  in  the  above-named  drama  show  that 
clearly.  A  certain  kernel  of  truth  is  accepted, 
usually  what  the  majority  of  the  "  educated  " 
or  the  favourite  science  of  the  time  looks  upon 
as  true.  Sometimes  it  seems  as  if  in  course  of 
time  the  kernel  of  truth  would  become  ever 


32    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

smaller  and  smaller.  AVith  this  kernel  every 
one  must  agree,  or  he  makes  himself  contempt- 
ible. There  is  no  tolerance  for  what  is  con- 
sidered "extreme"  and  "extravagant,"  although 
and  because  the  bad  conscience  can  never  be 
got  rid  of:  there  might  possibly  be  some  truth 
in  it  yet ! 

But  how,  then,  if  someone  holds,  or  thinks 
he  holds,  with  absolute  certainty  a  set  of  convic- 
tions deviating  from  the  "  ruling  con^'ictions," 
and  if  he  has  a  real  conviction?  He  who 
really  has  a  conviction  holds  every  opposing 
conviction  to  be  false.  It  is  here  only  that 
true  tolerance  can  begin,  the  tolerance  of  the 
strongly  convinced  man.  It  rests  on  personal 
conviction,  not  on  scepticism.  Because  it  is 
only  conviction  that  has  worth — so  judges  this 
tolerance — therefore  it  is  only  conviction  that 
can  have  value  as  conviction.  Each  has  the 
right  to  truth,  therefore  to  error  also.  No 
outward  means  of  power  or  of  persuasion  may 
be  employed  to  convince  him.  He  alone  can 
win   conviction   for    himself,   and    one's  own 


THE  RELIGIONS  OF  MANKIND  33 

conviction   alone   has   worth.     That  is  moral 
tolerance. 

This  tolerance  Christ  exercised.  As  far  as 
tolerance  is  concerned  we  cannot  go  against 
Him.  But  the  question  remains,  can  the 
above-mentioned  claim  of  Christianity  be 
proved  ?  That  will  be  the  subject  of  the  next 
lecture. 


LECTURE  III 

Christianity  as  the  Absolute  Religion 

Among  the  religions  of  mankind  Christianity 
occupies  a  pecuUar  place  in  this,  that  it  asserts 
with  a  greater  pointedness  and  explicitness 
than  any  other  religion  that  it  is  alone  and 
exclusively  the  absolute  religion.  A  man 
whose  word  has  weight  among  the  cultured 
of  to-day  as  that  of  scarce  another,  has  re- 
peated this  assertion  in  his  own  way.  Goethe 
said  a  few  days  before  his  end :  "  Let  mental 
culture  always  advance,  let  the  sciences  grow 
in  ever  wider  expanse  and  depth,  and  the 
human  mind  expand  as  it  will,  it  will  not  get 
beyond  the  height  and  moral  culture  of  Chris- 
tianity." If  one  had  demanded  a  proof  from 
the  master,  perhaps  he  would  have  referred  to 

34 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION    35 

what  he  had  said  shortly  before,  that  it  was 
"  in  his  nature  "  to  render  "  adoring  reverence  " 
to  Christ  as  the  "divine  revelation  of  the 
highest  principle  of  morality,"  as  it  was  also 
"in  his  nature"  '*to  revere  the  sun"  as  the 
mightiest  "  revelation  of  the  Highest." 

Or  he  might  have  fallen  back  on  his  feeling. 
And  who  will  deny  that  a  proof  lies  therein, 
namely,  the  proof  from  experience  ?  "If  any 
man  willeth  to  do  the  will  of  God,  he  shall 
know  of  the  teaching  whether  it  be  of  God, 
or  whether  I  speak  from  myself,"  says  Christ 
Himself.  But  yet,  whatever  satisfaction  in- 
dividuals may  be  able  to  find  in  this,  we  must 
try,  considering  the  extraordinary  assertion 
we  are  treating  of,  to  give  another  proof,  or, 
at  least,  to  enter  upon  it. 

Proofs  must  be  to  a  certain  extent  intelli- 
gible to  all ;  they  must  apply  standards  which 
are  accessible  to  everyone.  But  can  such  a 
proof  for  Christianity  be  produced  ?  It  is  a 
new,  exalted  life  that  only  he  knows  who  lives 
it.     Others  have  no  notion  of  it ;  they  talk  as 


36    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

the  blind  do  of  colour.  Christianity  asserts  that 
it  alone  has  this  life.  But  the  other  religions 
assert  the  same  of  themselves.  In  opposition 
to  this,  Christianity  says  that  that  rests  on 
self-deception,  that  their  life  is  not  reality. 
But  the  reproach  is  returned. 

We  must  come  back  on  this.  Let  us  first 
of  all  proclaim  peace  for  to-day.  We  shall 
admit  for  once  the  reality  of  the  content  of 
all  the  religions  of  mankind,  and  ask  this 
admission  with  reference  to  Christianity.  We 
wish,  first  of  all,  to  speak  of  the  given  thoughts 
under  the  presupposition  that  a  reality  under- 
lies them. 

Christianity  is  not  only  religiousness,  but 
also  religion.  It  stands  as  a  structure  of 
conceptions  and  institutions  over  against  the 
systems  and  ordinances  of  the  other  religions. 
If  one  looks  at  it  in  this  way  with  the  eye  of 
the  historian  or  the  philosopher,  it  is  a  religion 
as  the  other  religions  are.  It  can  be  compared 
with  them,  for  it  consists  in  conceptions, 
opinions,  ideals,  judgments,  as  they. 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION     37 

Now  there  are  three  standards  which  are 
appHcable  to  all  religious  systems  of  thought. 
There  is,  first,  the  standard  of  logic ;  second, 
the  standard  of  history ;  and  third,  the  stand- 
ard of  the  spiritual  need  of  the  soul. 

The  question  will  thus  be  :  Is  Christianity 
logical  and  consistent  in  its  train  of  thought, 
while  the  other  religions  are  inconsistent  and 
illogical  ?  Is  that  confirmed  in  its  history  ? 
Lastly,  does  Christianity  supply  in  an  absolute 
way  the  need  of  the  soul  ?  If  these  questions 
can  be  answered  in  the  affirmative,  then  it 
would  be  proved  that  Christianity  is  the 
RATIONAL  religion,  and  that  it  is  the  religion 
FOR  ALL,  that  it  is  simply  the  ?^eligion.  But  that 
does  not  mean  that  materially  it  is  a  product 
of  natural  reason,  for  such  products  are  afforded 
us  only  by  pure  mathematics  and  logic.  This 
proposition  would  much  rather  have  the 
meaning  that  historical  Christianity  is,  for- 
mally considered,  logically  and  rationally  built 
up ;  and  that,  secondly,  it  is  adequate  to  the 
deepest  need  of  the  spirit,  since  it  accomplishes 


38    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

what — and   more   than  what — the   other  reH- 
gions  promise. 

He  who  takes  a  glance  at  the  religions  of 
mankind  soon  feels  himself  urged  on  to  the 
common  observation  that  the  religious  temper 
measures  less  strictly  than  the  reason,  and  this 
is  looked  on  as  a  merit.  Religion  is  something 
comforting  and  heart-refreshing,  it  speaks  to 
the  heart — so  it  is  said, — there  one  may  not 
look  too  critically.  The  fragrance  of  religion's 
wondrous  flower  has  refreshed  thousands. 
What  has  fragrance  to  do  with  logic  ?  That 
is  well  meant,  and  there  lies  an  element  of 
truth  at  the  bottom  of  it  also.  But  if  one 
looks  from  the  moments  of  elevation  on  the 
long  series  of  thoughts  and  actions  that  fill 
up  our  hfe,  it  will  not  satisfy.  How  can  the 
contradictory,  obscure,  and  unintelligible  satisfy- 
in  the  long-run  ?  Inconsistency  and  want  of 
unity  prove  that  foreign  elements  have  forced 
their  way  into  the  organism  of  thought  in 
question,  that  it  is  consequently  ill,  and  it  is 
even  not  the  worst  that  errors  have  got  into 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION     39 

the  truth.  But  to  look  away  from  that,  reli- 
gion threatens,  with  such  a  conception  of  it,  to 
become  a  degenerate  kind  of  lyric  poetry. 

But  how  can  these  lyrical  feelings  raise 
themselves  to  become  principles  of  the  human 
spirit,  ruling  and  guiding  life?  It  is  neither 
accidental  nor  improper  that  criticism  is  applied 
to  religion.  The  greater  the  weight  put  on  a 
pillar,  the  surer  must  one  be  of  its  bearing 
capacity.  The  top  must  be  secure,  the  bottom 
firm.  Want  of  criticism  does  not  honour 
religion,  but  depreciates  it.  In  proportion  as 
a  religion  shuts  out  all  criticism  from  itself  in 
the  times  of  its  origin,  will  the  spiritual  trans- 
formation that  it  introduces  into  humanity  be 
accompanied  by  thinking ;  but  that  means  by 
criticism  as  well. 

We  stand  at  a  point  of  far-reaching  meaning. 
There  can  be  no  question  that  the  religions  of 
heathendom — to  characterise  them  shortly  in 
a  word  —  bear  in  themselves  the  marks  of 
inconsistency  and  theoretical  self-contradiction. 
A  few  examples  will  make  this  clear. 


40    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

The  gods  claim  to  be  served  with  full  devo- 
tion. But  other  gods  stand  beside  them  and 
above  them.  And  even  the  highest  god  has 
no  absolute  power  at  his  disposal.  Over  the 
gods  comes  the  fatal  power  of  Moira.  Arising 
and  passing  away  rules  among  them  too.  The 
"twilight  of  the  gods"  draws  near.  What 
meaning  has  it,  then,  to  serve  such  a  god  ? — 
Prayers  are  required,  but  to  them  is  ascribed, 
particularly  in  the  form  of  the  magic  formula, 
absolutely  sure  effect.  But  is  that  possible  if 
man  nevertheless  stands  under  the  power  of 
the  gods  ? — Man  is  commanded  to  submit 
himself  to  the  rational  order  of  mind,  whether 
it  be  the  laws  of  the  state  or  the  social  ordi- 
nances or  his  own  reason.  Sensuous  nature 
and  the  vital  impulses  arising  from  it  appear, 
on  the  contrary,  sinful.  But  what  sense  has 
this  command  if  the  gods  themselves  are  not 
pure  spirits,  if  the  sensuous  and  the  spiritual 
have  co-existed  all  along,  and  if,  finally,  all  has 
gone  forth  from  Deity  ? — And  then  religion's 
power   of    bringing    blessing   is    praised,   but 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION     41 

deeper  and  deeper  gloom  the  night-shadows 
of  pessimism,  as  history  shows,  around  the 
professors  of  rehgion.  Religion  is  optimistic, 
but  its  professors  are  pessimists.  The  power 
of  every  religion  is  optimism,  that  we  have 
from  God  the  highest  and  best,  and  that  with 
God  we  can  do  all  things  and  are  raised  above 
all  perils — how  then  can  religion  produce  the 
mood  of  pessimism  ? — And  finally,  how  may, 
or  how  can,  the  same  mind  that  created  and 
consecrated  the  labyrinths  of  superstition 
burst  them  through  criticism  and  leave  them 
to  the  curse  of  absurdity,  and  do  both  at  the 
impulse  of  Deity  ? 

None  of  this  agrees  with  the  presuppositions. 
The  religions  are  irrational  and  inconsistent. 
The  inadmissible  is  there  and  the  impossible, 
and  yet  both  come  from  religion. 

These  observations  are  confirmed  from  the 
history  of  religions.  The  strength  of  historical 
religions  depends  on  the  definite  stage  of 
culture.  They  tolerate  no  thoughts  of  one's 
own ;   enlightenment   and   criticism  are   their 


42    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

mortal  foes.  The  same  culture  that  has  its 
roots  in  religion  becomes  in  history  always  its 
judge  again.  It  goes  the  opposite  way  from 
what  it  did  with  the  god  :  the  children  devour 
the  mother. 

Such  is  the  lesson  of  history.  The  religions 
are  not  absolute ;  they  go  to  ruin  and  decay. 
Time  and  criticism  become  their  lord.  Then 
the  moment  has  arrived  when  the  holy  "  tradi- 
tion "  of  yore  becomes  a  heavy  burden,  which 
is  moved  painfully  from  one  shoulder  to 
another,  or,  in  unguarded  moments,  is  quietly 
laid  aside.  It  is  a  terrible  crisis.  Those  among 
us  who  have  separated  themselves  inwardly 
from  Christianity  experience  it  similarly  now 
in  our  midst.  One  must  oneself  have  experi- 
enced somewhat  of  this  misery  to  be  able  to 
speak  of  it.  Life  seems  to  be  richer  and 
simpler  without  religion.  Religion  is  not  an 
element  of  spiritual  progress  ;  it  retards  the 
steps  and  fetters  hands  and  heart. 

And  then  ?  Life  pronounces  its  judgment. 
The  days  of  religion  are  over,  but  they  drag 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION     43 

themselves  on  in  endless  succession — a  heavy 
burden,  and  yet  something  inviolable ;  a  hin- 
drance, and  yet  "holy."  Heaven  makes 
earth  a  hell.  The  cause  of  religion  seems 
lost,  but  no  one  becomes  certain  of  his  own 
thoughts.  In  this  conflict  the  religions  of 
mankind  pass  away.  Not  *' criticism"  and 
"unbelief"  are  their  murderers;  they  die  no 
violent  death  ;  they  are  themselves  grown  old, 
and  new  claims  of  the  day  force  themselves 
upon  the  attention ;  those  do  only  grave- 
digger  services. 

So  the  religions  of  heathendom  grew  old 
and  died.  Religion  was  there,  but  religious- 
ness welled  forth  from  it  no  more,  or  at  any 
rate  no  strong,  durable  religiousness.  Reason 
revolted  against  religiousness  as  "irrational," 
as  untrue. 

This  history  the  Christian  religion  has  not 
experienced.  It  has  ever  been  the  morning 
after  the  night  that  no  evening  follows.  And 
its  fields  have  borne  their  fruits,  whether 
storm    or    frost    passed    over     them.      How 


44    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

vast  are  the  culture  transformations  that  it 
has  experienced  in  the  West !  But  it  has  also 
ruled  them.  Interests  changed,  all  relations 
altered,  new  ideals  crowded  out  the  old,  new 
needs  arose,  the  reflecting  mind  received  new 
tasks ;  but  over  the  disappearance  of  old  worlds 
and  cultures,  over  sown  and  harvest  fields  of 
new  worlds  and  new  tendencies,  shone  clear 
and  bright  the  sun  of  the  Gospel.  To  the 
weak  it  transfigured  weakness  and  gave  them 
strength,  and  to  the  strong  it  ennobled  strength 
and  let  them  know  human  weakness.  The 
strongest  spirits  have  bowed  themselves  before 
it,  and  none  who  came  to  it  in  holy  earnest 
did  it  send  away  with  empty  heart.  It  has 
passed  through  the  ordeals  of  criticism  smiling, 
and  from  the  funeral  pyres  of  unbelief  it  has 
risen  aloft  like  a  blessed  spirit. 

But,  says  someone,  has  not  then  Christian- 
ity, too,  experienced  decay,  criticism,  and 
reformation  ?  Certainly !  But  it  has  not 
been  destroyed  by  it.  The  decay  was  always 
conditioned,  as   history  irrefutably  shows,  by 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION     45 

the  entrance  of  foreign  elements,  of  "  heathen  " 
rehgion,  or  religiousness,  into  Christianity. 
The  reformation  consisted  always  in  this,  that 
the  original  fundamental  principles  of  Chris- 
tianity were  meditated  upon,  or  that  their 
spiritual  power  led  men  back  to  them.  Even 
in  the  darkest  times  of  decline  Christianity 
remained  a  power  of  holy  Spirit.  It  was  not 
Christianity  that  oppressed  the  minds  in  the 
end  of  the  Middle  Ages,  but  the  unchristian 
in  Christianity.  Therefore  religious  criticism 
has  almost  always  turned  itself  against  what 
was  not  Christian  in  Christianity.  The  funda- 
mental difference  cannot  be  mistaken :  the 
heathen  religions  succumbed  to  their  prin- 
ciples ;  Christianity  declined  when  it  left 
its  principles,  and  it  revived  again  when  it 
returned  to  them. 

That  is  the  historical  contrast.  But  why 
does  the  human  spirit  always  recover  health 
again  on  the  nature  of  Christianity,  and  why 
does  it  come  to  no  enduring  life  under 
Paganism  ? 


46    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

Two  reasons  may  be  given  for  this  phenome- 
non. First,  human  reason  must  recognise  the 
structure  of  thought  of  the  Christian  revelation 
as  something  complete  in  itself.  Second,  all 
the  questions  on  which  the  heathen  religions 
wrecked  found  here  their  answer.  The  first 
and  last  enigmas  of  the  soul  and  of  life  were 
solved. 

This  can  easily  be  made  clear  from  the 
questions  which  have  just  been  raised.  He 
who  knows  God  as  the  Almighty  Love,  who 
created  heaven  and  earth  and  who  penetrates 
all  with  His  omnipresent  will  and  guides  all 
according  to  the  norm  of  His  Spirit,  under- 
stands that  this  God  should  be  served  with 
the  whole  soul  and  with  all  the  strength,  that 
the  fulfilling  of  His  commands  should  be  sought 
after,  that  He  may  be  prayed  to,  not  with  the 
authority  of  the  magic  formula,  but  in  the  still 
and  humble  resignation  of  Christian  prayer. 
He  who  feels  the  almighty  love  of  this  God 
will  indeed  often  have  the  feeling  of  pessimism 
over  the  small  and  transient  doings  of  men, 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION     47 

but  this  feeling  will  of  necessity  disappear  as  a 
discord  in  the  harmony  of  the  optimistic  faith 
that  nevertheless  all  men  and  all  events  serve 
the  last  great  end  of  existence,  the  Kingdom 
of  God. 

And  that  brings  us  now  to  the  third  point. 
Christianity  satisfies  the  need  of  the  human 
spirit.  We  spoke  of  this  need  in  the  two 
former  lectures.  It  consists  of  two  things : 
man  needs  a  near,  strong  spiritual  authority, 
and  he  needs  a  far-off  goal.  That  leads  the 
soul  on  to  the  heights  of  the  spiritual  life. 
Christianity  gives  both.  Therein  consists  its 
power  over  souls,  and  therein  it  proves  also  in 
the  highest  way  its  *'  rational "  character. 

But  does,  then,  the  spirit  of  man  really  want 
authority?  Have  we  modern  men  not  just 
become  free  from  authority  through  the  Re- 
formation ?  Does  authority  not  seek  to  charm 
the  ever-striving  spirit  into  a  rest  which  is  quite 
contrary  to  its  nature  ? 

Certainly  there  is  such  an  authority.  It  is 
external,  and  never  comes  into  the  heart;  it 


48    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

does  not  give,  but  claims  ;  it  fetters  the  spirit, 
and  never  frees  it ;  it  kills — the  death  of  the 
letter  and  the  law  is  meant — and  does  not  lead 
to  real  strong  life.  The  spirit  flees  from  this 
authority,  and  it  should  flee  from  it,  for  only 
spiritual  stunting  and  dwarfing  can  come  out 
of  it  where  it  persists.  But  it  is  not  about 
this  authority  we  are  speaking.  There  is 
another  freeing  and  living  authority.  It  is  life 
and  power.  For  authority  in  this  sense  we 
may  also  say  spiritual  sovereignty.  It  is  the 
power  of  the  personal  life  that  is  over  us,  it  is 
the  depth  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  This  authority 
draws,  not,  however,  to  slavery,  but  to  joyful, 
free  submission ;  it  strengthens  and  expands 
the  personal  life  ;  it  makes  rich  and  not  poor ; 
it  quickens  and  does  not  kill;  it  is  of  the 
Spirit  of  God  and  not  of  the  letter.  Such  an 
authority  man  seeks  from  early  years,  for  he 
seeks  the  power  of  the  spiritual  life.  Think 
on  children  and  on  youth.  It  is,  finally,  not 
the  "  command,"  the  "  teaching,"  the  "  matter," 
that  "captivate"   us   and   bring  us  into  sub- 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION     49 

jection,  it  is  the  spiritual,  personal  Being. 
Not  till  we  were  "captivated"  by  the  inspiration 
of  a  personal  life  over  us,  were  we  able  inwardly 
to  assimilate  the  teachings  and  matter,  the 
commands  and  ordinances.  And  so,  finally, 
the  spirit  of  man  finds  peace  only  when  he 
feels  an  all-encompassing  and  inward  absolute 
and  sure  authority  that  gives  him  life  for  the 
last  extremity,  a  life  that  looks  death  fearless 
in  the  face.  This  authority  is  the  living, 
personal  God. 

The  authority  of  God  gives  us  two  things. 
It  transfigures  our  dependence  on  the  world 
and  its  natural  laws.  It  is  not  finally  "  force 
and  matter,"  not  mass  and  blind  law,  that 
bring  our  life  into  subjection  and  make  it 
dependent.  No,  above  all  that  stands,  and  in 
all  that  works,  the  living  God.  The  depend- 
ence that  we  feel  is  finally  dependence  on  a 
spiritual  Person.  It  is  only  through  this  that 
it  becomes  bearable  to  the  spirit  and  corre- 
sponds with  its  nature.     The  thousand  things 

and  experiences  that  oppress  and  limit  us  are 

4 


50    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

the  expression  of  the  will  of  God.  And 
limitations,  like  oppression,  proclaim  to  us  the 
spiritual  nearness  of  the  Father  in  Heaven. 
The  God  who  "  captivates "  us  breaks  the 
fetters  of  force  and  matter.  The  dependence 
of  our  being  is  dependence  on  the  Spirit  of 
God. 

This  brings  us  to  the  second  point.  The 
God  we  experience  gives  the  soul,  in  that  we 
experience  Him,  a  goal.  This  goal  quickens 
and  moves  the  soul  to  the  exertion  of  power, 
to  will  and  to  action.  This  goal  develops  all 
the  powers  and  strains  them  to  the  highest 
pitch  and  widest  compass  of  their  possible 
activity.  We  designate  this  goal  ''  the  King- 
dom of  God."  It  is  a  state  of  things  where 
mankind  serves  God  willingly  and  from  the 
heart,  or  wills  the  good  and  does  it,  and  thereby 
has  blessedness,  pleasure,  happiness  and  peace. 
To  bring  in  this  state  of  things  is  the  aim  of 
the  spiritual  sovereignty,  or  authority,  of  God. 
But  it  comes  about  in  such  a  manner  that  it 
is  apprehended  and  established  by  struggling, 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION     51 

toiling  humanity  in  the  way  of  historical  work, 
in  gradual  progress  and  by  slow  ascent,  past 
oppositions  which  have  been  got  over,  or  seen 
through  and  unmasked. 

This  end  is  furthered,  according  to  the 
Christian  view,  consciously  or  unconsciously 
by  all  events  in  the  world.  Conscious  service 
is  the  task  of  life.  This  task  demands  our  all 
and  gives  us  all  in  return ;  watchfulness  over 
our  own  life,  refinement  and  purification  of  the 
same,  its  exaltation  and  deepening,  the  inten- 
tion to  further  the  good  and  to  stir  up  and 
transfigure  other  souls  through  our  work  and 
life,  the  constant  direction  of  thought  and 
action  to  this  end. 

But  Christianity  unites  with  this  demand  a 
double  promise  also.  Firstly,  the  life  of  him 
who  does  this  shall  not  run  its  course  in  vain 
and  without  meaning  ;  he  shall  attain  to  worth 
and  become  a  power  in  the  great  structure  of 
events,  he  shall  become  spiritual  personality 
and  remain  in  all  the  vicissitude  of  the  material 
world.     And  secondly,  this  highest  exertion  of 


52    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

power  shall  bring  with  it  also  the  greatest 
satisfaction.  "  The  doer  of  the  word  shall  be 
blessed  in  his  doing,"  says  Holy  Scripture. 

Christianity  causes  men  to  feel  the  sove- 
reignty of  God,  and  thereby  gives  them  the 
goal  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  That  is  its 
essence.  In  the  sovereignty  the  receptive 
nature  of  our  spirit  comes  to  rest,  in  the  goal 
the  active  bent  finds  satisfaction.  Both  corre- 
spond to  the  nature  of  the  spirit.  Christianity 
raises  the  spirit  to  the  height  of  the  perfection 
attainable  by  it.  Christianity  is  therefore  the 
religion  for  the  whole  of  mankind ;  it  is  the 
absolute  and  the  rational  religion. 

What  other  religions  promise  to  mankind 
becomes  fact  in  Christianity  alone.  That 
promise  shows  that  they  too  raise  the  claim 
to  absolute  truth.  This  presentiment  is  their 
greatness.  But  it  remains  a  presentiment ; 
no  reality  follows  it.  The  dreams  of  the 
human  soul  become  reality  in  Christianity: 
but  the  reality  is  ever  other  than  the  dream. 
Christianity  is  the  test  of  all  religions,  but  it 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION     53 

is  also  the  fulfilment  of  all  religions.  And  all 
religions  fall  before  Christianity,  but  it  makes 
their  innermost  vital  impulse  reality.  Very 
profoundly,  therefore,  all  religions  prove 
Christianity,  for  Christianity  is  the  religion. 
So  also  it  is  easy  to  see  that  what  was 
recognised  in  the  first  lecture  as  the  nature 
of  religion  can  be  found  again  sharper  and 
clearer  in  the  nature  of  Christianity. 

But  he  who  has  followed  these  thoughts  is 
met  finally  by  still  another  anxious  question. 
The  peace  that  we  offered  is  not  tenable 
outside  in  real  life.  Although  what  has  been 
said  be  right,  what  does  it  avail  ?  How  if 
the  absolute  religion  were  only  imagination? 
Certainly  it  is  consistent,  as  castles  in  the  air 
always  are ;  and  it  is  in  conformity  with  the 
wishes  of  our  spirit,  as  the  pictures  of  phantasy 
always  are.  We  stop  here  at  the  point 
where  it  is  thought  that  the  religiousness  of 
Christianity  may  and  should  be  explained  as 
imagination.  Here  there  is  no  other  counter- 
proof  than  that  of  practical  knowledge  and  of 


54    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

the  experience  "of  the  Spirit  and  of  power." 
As  to  the  reaUty  of  Christianity  only  he  can 
judge  who  has  experienced  its  spiritual  effect. 
This  experience  is  asserted  by  the  Christians. 
Have  they  a  right  to  make  this  assertion? 
This  will  be  the  next  subject  for  discussion. 


LECTURE   IV 

The  Proof  of  the  Absolute  Religion 

The  thinker  is  often  like  the  hill- climber  who 
imagines  that  the  summit  he  desires  to  reach 
is  close  before  him,  but  perceives  to  his 
surprise  as  he  goes  forward  that  hills  and 
valleys  still  separate  him  from  the  final  ascent. 
That  Christianity  is  the  absolute  religion 
seemed  to  be  proved  by  the  observation  of 
its  consistency  and  of  its  relation  to  the 
spiritual  need  of  all  men.  But  at  that  point 
there  opened  before  us  a  new  ravine.  Have 
we  in  Christianity  realities,  or  only  bare 
postulates  and  creations  of  the  imagination  ? 
Is  there  really  a  God  who  rules  over  all  and 
a  Kingdom  of  God? 

And   here   again   lie   hill   and   vale.      Still 

55 


56    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

more  weighty  objections  than  those  we 
mentioned  may  be  raised.  We  compared 
Christianity  with  the  religions  of  mankind. 
But  what  has  such  a  comparison  to  do  with 
the  present  day  ?  It  goes  without  saying 
that  we  do  not  beUeve  in  these  rehgions. 
Quite  other  are  the  interests  that  arrest  our 
attention.  Philosophic  views  of  the  world 
reasoned  out  by  great  thinkers  and  animated 
by  depth  of  spirit  come  upon  the  scene  and 
contend  with  Christianity  for  the  first  place. 
It  is  these  that  have  to  be  overcome,  and  not 
the  paltry  religions  of  the  distant  past,  which 
at  the  present  day  run  wild  or  wither  only 
on  the  boundary  line  of  the  human  species. 

The  magic  tones  of  the  "  absolute  truth " 
which  Hegel's  Philosophy  tried  to  show  to 
be  the  innate  melody  in  the  spirit  of  man, 
ever  chiming  forth  again  even  out  of  all 
discords,  are  indeed  silenced.  But  here 
Buddhism  attracts,  and  Pessimism.  The  will 
is  the  essential  characteristic  of  man,  and  it  is 
his  misfortune.     Consciousness  of  the  nothing- 


PROOF  OF  THE  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION    57 

ness  of  existence  paralyses  him  gradually. 
That  is  the  foretaste  of  blessedness,  of  Nirvana. 
There  Endsemonism  is  praised.  To  advance 
the  happiness  of  many  brings  to  ourselves  a 
moderate  happiness.  Again,  others  point  us 
to  the  progress  which  the  Evolution  theory 
teaches.  Life  is  not  poor ;  in  striving  and 
struggling  originate  the  permanent  objective 
blessings  of  culture,  for  which  it  is  worth 
while  to  strive  whether  one  enjoys  much  or 
little  of  them  oneself.  And  lastly,  we  hear 
from  zealous  adepts  of  the  "  Overman " 
(Ubermensch).  The  world  exists  for  the 
strong,  and  the  strong  turn  it  to  account  with 
ruthless  mastery.  The  strong  are  right. 
That  is  fortune  and  truth. 

And  now  it  seems  the  sovereignty  of  God 
is  overthrown,  and  the  Kingdom  of  God  per- 
ceived to  be  but  a  changing  structure  of 
cloud,  resembling  sometimes  an  angel,  some- 
times a  man,  sometimes  an  animal.  Every 
man  is  the  maker  of  his  own  fortune,  his 
own    God     and     Lord,    the    goods    of    this 


58    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

earth  are  his  only  ideals.     Faust's  words  are 
true: 

'^  Here,  on  this  earth,  my  pleasures  have  their  sources  ; 
Yon  sun  beholds  my  sorrows  in  his  courses." 

And  again : 

"  The  view  beyond  is  barred  immutably  : 
A  fool,  who  there  his  blinking  eyes  directeth, 
And  o'er  the  clouds  One  like  himself  expecteth  ! 
Firm  let  him  stand,  and  look  around  him  well ! 
This  world  means  something  to  the  capable. 
Why  needs  he  through  Eternity  to  wend  ?  "  ^ 

Many  speak  so.  It  is  not  single  systems, 
but  a  practical  world-philosophy  that  confronts 
us,  and  we  are  ourselves  not  insusceptible  to 
its  charm.  It  has  its  followers  among  the  upper 
ten  thousand,  and  social  democracy  has  seen 
to  it  that  the  lower  classes  also  shall  be 
thoroughly  familiar  with  its  results. 

In  presence  of  this  fact,  must  we  apply 
ourselves  to  asking  for  toleration,  must  we 
beg  the  right  of  existence  for  our  faith  for 
children  and  old  people,  for  the  intellectually 
barren    and   backward  ?      Who    will   despise 

1  Trans,  slightly  altered  from  Bayard  Taylor. 


PROOF  OF  THE  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION   59 

them  ?  They  too  are  a  power !  But  if  that 
were  actually  our  situation,  what  could  we 
offer  to  mankind  as  a  whole  ?  Our  day  would 
be  past.  It  would  be  really  the  wisest  policy 
to  throw  our  books  into  the  fire,  and  instead 
of  audaciously  demanding  the  highest  price 
for  the  last  book,  to  smuggle  it  away  some- 
how into  the  Religious -history  Library,  that  at 
least  something  of  Christianity  might  remain 
or  seem  to  remain. 

But  we  have  not  come  to  such  a  pass  yet, 
and,  if  we  are  right  with  what  has  already 
been  laid  down,  we  can  never  come  to  it,  for 
Christianity  is  the  absolute  religion. 

Now,  then,  we  must  acknowledge  that  all 
those  ideas  and  ideals,  however  "  modern " 
they  may  be,  however  loud  their  praises  may 
sound,  do  not  accomplish  what  Christianity 
accomplishes — they  do  not  satisfy  the  hungry 
soul.  To  express  it  otherwise,  the  need  of  the 
human  spirit  remains,  in  spite  of  those  promises 
and  gifts,  directed  to  the  blessings  of  the 
Christian  religion.     "  Anima  naturaliter  Chris- 


60    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

tiana  "  (the  soul  is  by  nature  Christian)  are  the 
words  of  one  who  knew  human  nature  well, 
in  presence  of  the  terrible  spiritual  struggle 
between  Christianity  and  Paganism  in  the 
second  century  of  our  era. 

There  are  two  questions  which  we  must 
bring  to  bear  on  the  above-mentioned  views. 
Are  they  adequate  to  the  practical  need  of 
the  soul,  which  we  have  recognised?  And 
secondly,  are  they  justified  in  the  face  of 
theoretical  reason  ? 

The  natural  order  of  things,  it  is  said, 
produces  goods  in  its  evolution  and  brings 
happiness.  We  may  acknowledge  both,  but 
the  question — it  is  the  question  of  religion — 
remains :  What  does  that  profit  my  soul  ? 
This  natural  order,  with  its  evolution,  places 
me  in  absolute  dependence  on  things  and 
persons  like  myself,  on  the  sum-total  of  occur- 
rences. But  this  dependence  never  becomes 
really  an  absolute,  soul-satisfying  dependence  : 
there  remains  the  murmuring  and  complaining 
Why  ?     A  glance  into  the  hearts  of  our  fellow- 


PROOF  OF  THE  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION    61 

men  and  into  our  own  assures  us  of  this.  The 
murmuring  against  authority,  which  we  know 
from  our  youth  up,  really  shows  only  the 
unstilled  longing  for  authority.  We  refuse  to 
be  subject  to  nature  and  history,  for  it  is  no 
inward  subjection  to  which  they  force  us.  But 
we  should  be  subject  and — we  want  to  be 
subject. 

Further,  we  hear  of  "  progress  "  and  "  happi- 
ness." It  is  said  I  should  follow  that  path. 
But  I  do  not  perceive  the  progress,  and  I 
cannot  do  enough  for  it.  My  soul  pines  away 
under  the  small  steps  towards  progress.  And 
I  do  not  experience  the  happiness  :  my  doings 
do  not  lead  to  it  either  for  myself  or  for  others. 
Have  I,  then,  caused  more  happiness  than 
misery,  more  worth  than  worthlessness,  in  my 
life  ?  In  that  way  I  never  come  near  the  goal. 
I  am  taught  that  I  am  a  part  and  can  therefore 
never  grasp  the  whole ;  that  can  be  done  only 
by  humanity  in  its  gradual  progress.  But  I  am 
a  whole,  a  world  for  myself,  for  I  am  a  personal 
and  rational  spirit.     My  reason  and  will  strive 


62    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

towards  the  whole,  and  yet  I  am  told  I  should 
be  content  with  the  smallest  fractions,  never 
reach  forward  to  the  highest,  never  serve  it 
directly,  never  feel  its  presence. 

The  need  of  my  soul  remains  unsatisfied. 
These  thoughts  do  not  give  me  peace  and 
active  energy.  And  finally,  is  it  not  a  terrible 
contradiction  into  which  my  mind  is  forced — 
terrible,  for  my  life  hangs  on  these  things  ? 
Something  exists,  but  it  is  not  for  me.  But 
does  anything  exist — that  surely  means  for  me 
— if  it  is  not  for  me  ?  I  must,  it  is  said,  always 
contemplate  progress  and  happiness,  but  I 
shall  never  quite  experience  them,  and  yet 
I  am  told  they  bring  me  life  and  volition. 
Are  my  dreams  and  thoughts  real  ?  then  my 
action  and  life  are  unreal,  and,  if  my  action 
and  life  are  real,  then  what  I  think  has  no 
reality.  In  the  want  of  inner  union  in  the 
minds  of  so  many  modern  men  the  weight  of 
this  contradiction  can  be  realised  :  the  ideals 
remain  empty  ideas,  and  impulses  become 
ideals. 


PROOF  OF  THE  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION   63 

We  must  not  deceive  ourselves.  The 
naturalism  of  the  Evolution  theory,  in  what- 
ever form  it  appear,  will  never  satisfy  the  need 
of  the  soul.  Much  less  will  the  dream  of  the 
"  Overman."  Yes,  we  should  become  "  Over- 
men " — the  Christian  too  speaks  of  a  new 
birth — more  than  a  common  specimen  of  the 
human  species :  we  should  leave  the  poor 
excuse,  "  Homo  sum,"  for  the  "  Ecce  homo  "  of 
Pilate  regarding  Jesus,  for  the  "  Voila  un 
homme,"  as  Napoleon  said  of  Goethe.  But 
what  better  are  we  of  hearing  what  we 
all  know,  if  wild  paradoxes  form  the  way 
to  it,  or  rather  are  thrown  in  the  way  like 
stones  ? 

Or  can  that  chloroforming  of  the  will  in 
Pessimism  satisfy  ?  It  cannot  do  it  either. 
Man  is  no  "  dying  flower,"  and  so  the  comfort 
of  Nirvana  is  of  no  avail.  Man  has  a  will, 
therefore  the  idea  of  ceasing  to  will  in  no  way 
helps  him.  That  this  Pessimism  lives  among 
our  people  gives,  it  is  true,  the  lie  to  that 
optimism  we  spoke  of,  but  it  does  not  thereby 


64    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

prove  its  own  right.  There  is  a  Buddhist 
hymn  which  says : 

^'  Hast  thou  lost  possession  of  a  world  ? 
Be  not  saddened  by  it,  it  is  nothing ! 
Hast  thou  gained  possession  of  a  world  ? 
Rejoice  not  over  it,  it  is  nothing ! 
Transient  are  the  joys^ 
Transient  are  the  sorrows. 
Pass  by  the  world  :  it  is  nothing  !  " 

Alongside  I  set  the  words  of  a  simple  and 
strong  Christian  soul : 

"  E'en  should  they  take  our  life, 
Goods,  honour,  children,  wife — 
Though  all  of  these  be  gone. 
Yet  nothing  have  they  won, 

God's  kingdom  ours  abide th  !  "  ^ 

That  is  it.  There  the  refrain,  "  It  is  nothing," 
here  the  positive  conclusion,  "  God's  kingdom 
ours  abideth." 

And  now  we  have  made  the  descent  and 
crossed  the  hills.  We  turn  to  the  final  ascent : 
is  it  realities  that  Christianity  makes  known 
to  us? 

1  From  Luther's  hymn,  "  A  Sure  Stronghold  our  God  is 
He,"  The  Scottish  Hymnal,  1 82. 


PROOF  OF  THE  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION   65 

There  was  a  time — it  remains  for  many 
still — when  it  seemed  uncommonly  easy  to 
answer  this  question.  The  teachings  of  the 
Christian  religion  express  realities,  for  "they 
are  in  the  Bible."  The  Bible  is  word  for 
word  inspired  by  God.  God  cannot  lie ; 
therefore,  what  the  Bible  declares  to  be  true 
is  real.  That  was  what  was  said,  and  long 
generations  of  Christendom  were  satisfied 
with  it. 

Why  can  we  not  be  content  with  this 
answer  at  the  present  day?  There  are  two 
decisive  reasons.  In  the  Biblical  writings  are 
confessedly  to  be  found  mistakes  of  the  nar- 
rators and  contradictions  in  the  narratives. 
This  need  in  no  way  confuse  the  pious 
Christian,  but  is  fatal  to  that  theory,  for  it 
would  make  God  the  originator  of  errors.  But 
that  is  not  the  chief  point.  All  sorts  of  apolo- 
getic artifices  have  been  tried  for  the  improve- 
ment of  this  state  of  affairs,  but  we  cannot 
rest  our  faith  on  these  artifices.  It  is,  how- 
ever,  still  more   important   to    observe    that 


66    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

the  question  cannot  be  answered  in  this  way 
at  all. 

Others  say,  the  content  of  Christianity  is 
reality,  because  the  authors  of  holy  Scripture 
felt  it  to  be  so,  and  believed  that  they  were 
inspired  by  God.  But  firstly,  how  do  we 
know  that  these  men  were  really  *'  inspired  "  ? 
If  we  are  to  found  our  faith  on  that,  then  we 
must  be  able  to  reach  direct  certainty  of  the 
historical  fact.  Secondly,  as  we  may  err  at 
the  present  day  in  regard  to  the  reality  of 
Christianity,  perhaps  the  authors  of  Scripture 
could  do  so  too.  And  lastly,  could  not  God's 
sovereignty  have  been  once  actually  mani- 
fested, and  be  no  more  manifested  now  ?  We 
see  one  cannot  get  further  by  this  way.  In 
all  questions  concerning  the  life  of  the  soul, 
the  certainty  of  another  never  satisfies ;  the 
soul  must  have  attained  to  certainty  from 
personal  experience  in  the  matter. 

What,  then,  do  we  call  real  ?  Everyone 
knows  that  Philosophy  since  Kants  day  has 
devoted   serious   attention    to    this    question. 


PROOF  OF  THE  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION   67 

The  educated  Christian  cannot  act  as  if  this 
had  not  been  done.  It  is  improper  to  dispense 
with  that  accurateness  and  caution  of  thought 
in  religious  matters  which  men  consider  proper 
to  apply  to  the  smallest  things  of  the  world. 
We  are  done  once  for  all  with  the  naive 
opinion  that  something  is  real  inasmuch  as 
it  appears  so  to  certain  people,  inasmuch  as 
it  is  asserted.  A  glance  at  the  microscope 
instructs  us  on  that  score,  or  a  visit  to  the 
courts  of  justice,  where  unimpeachable  wit- 
nesses say  they  have  "  seen "  what  other 
equally  good  witnesses  declare  "not  to  have 
happened." 

The  difficulty  increases  in  the  religious 
sphere,  where  it  is  properly  no  question  of 
historical  facts  that  can  be  "  seen "  and 
"  heard,"  but  of  the  reality  of  supersensuous 
things — the  sovereignty  of  God  and  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  There  it  is  not  sufficient 
to  appeal  to  wonders  and  signs  which  once 
happened.  We  are  dealing  in  the  first  place 
with  facts  which  happen  at  present. 


68    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

I  call  an  event  real  when  I  am  myself 
inwardly  convinced  of  its  reality.  That  a 
person  loves  or  hates  me,  is  powerful  or 
clever,  is  for  me  reality,  because  I  experience 
it.  But  we  make  a  distinction  between 
passing  impressions  and  a  firm  conviction. 
How  does  this  conviction  come  about  ?  Not 
otherwise — to  keep  to  our  example — than  that 
the  influence  of  the  other  produces  a  definite 
feeling  in  me.  Joy,  love,  thankfulness, 
respect,  have  arisen  in  me  with  regard  to 
that  person.  Now  if  we  ask.  Whence  comes 
this  new  content  of  my  soul  ?  I  must 
answer.  From  the  changeless  effect  of  that 
person's  influence.  In  experiencing  in  my- 
self those  continuous  effects,  I  experience 
the  other  as  real,  and  that  in  such  a  way 
that  the  nature  and  character  of  the  other 
reveal  themselves  in  this  activity.  Thus 
from  the  effect  in  me  I  experience  the  reality 
of  a  subject  acting  in  that  effect.  We  our- 
selves with  the  content  of  our  soul,  which 
is  one  with  the  soul   itself,   guarantee  thus 


PROOF  OF  THE  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION  69 

the  activity  and  reality  of  the  person  working 
on  us. 

Every  judgment  as  to  the  objective  is  con- 
sequently subjectively  based  in  ourselves. 
That  we  are  what  we  are  is  certainly  due  to 
the  operation  of  the  objective.  But  we  know 
this  objective  only  by  starting  from  the  sub- 
jective reality  in  ourselves  ;  real  existence  and 
knowledge  go  the  opposite  way.  The  content 
comes  to  us  from  outside,  we  come  to  cogni- 
tion from  within.  But  this  content  consists 
in  conceptions  and  perceptions  which  belong 
to  history.  God  has  revealed  Himself  his- 
torically in  words  and  actions,  in  which 
we  experience  even  to-day  His  real  presence. 
By  that  we  are  pointed  to  the  inmost  ex- 
perience of  the  Christian  soul.  That  is  what 
makes  the  Christian  a  Christian,  distinguishing 
him  from  all  other  men. 

To  be  a  Ch?istian  means  to  have  faith  and  to 
love.  What  a  wealth  of  meaning  and  aim — 
even  the  whole  of  positive  Christianity — is 
contained  in  these  words,  Faith  and  Love  I     I 


70    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

feel  myself  fully  brought  into  subjection  and 
thereby  captivated,  and  thus  set  free  for  the 
highest  activity.  It  is  lasting  experiences  that 
make  me  subject  and  set  me  free.  Now  these 
effects  necessarily  presuppose  something  effec- 
tive, but  I  cannot  find  this  something  in  any 
of  the  phenomena  which  surround  me  in  the 
world.  They  all  subject  me  only  in  part  and 
incite  in  me  an  activity  directed  to  things  of 
their  own  kind — things  of  this  world.  But 
faith  is  the  consciousness  of  full  submission, 
and  love  has  not  earthly  fortune  and  worldly 
joy  as  its  goal.  The  experience  of  my  soul 
thus  forces  me  to  recognise  a  manifested 
absolute  authority  and  sovereignty  above  the 
world,  and  to  trace  back  the  goal  of  my  love 
to  them.  In  other  words,  he  who  believes 
and  loves  has  thereby  become  certain  of  the 
reality  of  the  sovereignty  of  God  and  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  Only  when  this  is  so  is 
the  fact  of  faith  and  love  in  my  soul  intelli- 
gible.    If  I  exist,  so  does  God. 

This  seems  to  be  a  cold,  speculative  observa- 


PROOF  OF  THE  ABSOLUTE  RELIGION   71 

tion,  a  piece  of  Philosophy  that  remains  as  far 
from  religion  as  the  east  is  from  the  west. 
Can  we  really,  it  is  asked,  by  this  difficult 
process  explain  the  exulting  joy  of  the  soul 
which  is  certain  of  the  nearness  of  its  God  ? 
Can  we  so  explain  the  reality  of  those  eternal 
possessions,  for  the  sake  of  which  men  have 
fearlessly  given  property  and  life  ?  Can  we  in 
this  way  be  forced  to  it  ? 

Yet  he  who  gives  us  such  an  answer  only 
shows  that  he  has  not  understood  the  drift  of 
the  whole  consideration,  or  at  least  forgotten 
it.  It  is  not  a  question  of  "  explaining  "  the 
origin  of  faith  and  love,  or  at  all  of  "  forcing  " 
thereto.  One  who  feels  himself  loved  by 
another,  or  who  entertains  respect  for  that 
other,  does  not  discover  the  love  or  the 
striking  qualities  of  that  other,  or  force  himself 
to  the  recognition  of  them,  by  all  sorts  and 
kinds  of  reasoning.  And  just  as  little  are  our 
considerations  meant  to  force  anyone  to  God. 
It  is  not  our  intention  to  force  or  to  explain, 
but  to  know  and  to  "prove."     If  the  lover 


72    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

doubts  the  love  of  his  beloved,  he  has  no  other 
proof  than  reflection  on  the  fact.  So  what  we 
have  to  do  is,  not  to  produce  or  explain  faith 
and  love,  but,  by  reflection  on  what  we  hold 
to  be  real,  to  prove  and  understand  their 
reality. 

We  have  reached  the  end  of  our  travels 
for  the  present.  Christianity  is  the  absolute 
religion  as  opposed  to  all  other  religions  and 
views  of  the  world,  and  the  grounds  on  which 
its  adherents  rest  this  judgment  are  not 
subjective  creations  of  the  imagination,  but 
realities.  He  who  believes  and  loves  is  sure 
of  the  sovereignty  of  God  and  of  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  and  he  has  a  well-founded  right  for 
this  certainty. 

On  this  summit  we  shall  pause.  Whether 
and  how  we  can  get  a  view  of  Christianity 
from  it  must  be  seen  afterwards. 


LECTURE   V 

Faith  and  Love 

"  The  Christian  is  the  strange  animal  on 
earth,"  said  Luther  once.  We  have  ah'eady 
heard  enough  about  the  Christian  soul  to 
enable  us  to  understand  what  that  means. 

The  Christian  is  no  hermit  and  no  cripple. 
Standing  in  the  midst  of  this  world,  in  the 
full  enjoyment  of  its  powers  and  goods,  full 
of  strong  feeling  for  the  real  and  the  great  in 
this  world,  the  Christian  asserts  that  there  is 
something  greater  and  more  mighty  than  this 
world,  and  that  this  world  is  too  small  for 
the  goal  of  human  aspiration.  The  Christian, 
like  the  man  in  the  legend,  will  serve  only 
the  strongest  and  go  only  the  way  that  the 
strongest  points  him.     And  in  this  he  knows 

73 


74    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

himself  one  with  the  deepest  aspiration  of  the 
spirit  in  history. 

This  assertion  seems  at  first  sight  to  be  a 
terrible  paradox.  It  sounds  as  if  defiant  feel- 
ing of  power  and  infinite  longing  after  love 
projected  their  giant  shadows  on  the  wall  of 
the  universe  to  experience  in  them  the  thrill 
of  infinite  love  and  holy  fear. 

But  this  paradox  is  reality.  What  we  have 
heard  of  the  sovereignty  of  God  and  the 
Kingdom  of  God  might  at  first  remind  us  of 
such  giant  shadows,  yet  these  things  are  a 
reality  in  our  soul.  Faith  corresponds  to  the 
sovereignty  of  God,  and  love  corresponds  to 
the  Kingdom  of  God.  The  fact  that  Christian 
faith  and  Christian  love  exist  requires  and 
guarantees  the  other  fact,  namely,  that  there 
is  a  ruling  Divine  Will  that  penetrates  and 
moves  all,  and  that  there  is  an  end  which 
this  Will  reveals  to  our  soul.  If  the  latter  did 
not  exist,  neither  would  the  former. 

To  understand  this,  we  must,  to  be  sure, 
free  ourselves  from  the  ideas  of  faith  and  love 


FAITH  AND  LOVE  75 

which   custom   and    Hnguistic    usage   present 
to  our  mind. 

"  Faith "  and  "  knowledge "  are  often 
opposed  to  each  other,  and  certainty  attri- 
buted to  the  latter,  possibility  or  probability 
to  the  former.  Knowledge  seems  strong  and 
satisfying,  faith  weak  and  half  -  satisfying. 
One  believes,  when  one  does  not  know ; 
knowledge  is  more,  it  is  the  comparative 
or  superlative  of  faith.  In  these  circum- 
stances it  is  not  strange  that  a  certain  aversion 
is  felt  to  faith,  and  this  aversion  is  increased 
when  one,  for  example,  hears  it  said  :  Christian 
faith  consists  in  this,  that  definite,  unprov- 
able theoretical  "  doctrines,"  and  old  historical 
narratives  of  miraculous  character,  "  must " 
be  acknowledged  as  "  true." 

Then  one  soon  experiences  a  '*  pleasant 
aversion,"  as  the  young  Goethe  once  did,  and 
throws  faith  aside  without  giving  it  much 
serious  consideration.  It  cannot  be  other 
than  startling  to  see  how  very  quickly  and 
easily   many   at  the  present   day   have  done 


76    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

with  faith.  We  hear,  perhaps,  of  *'  struggles  " 
said  to  have  been  undergone,  but  seek  in  vain 
for  traces  of  them.  In  reaUty  there  has  been 
no  struggle.  That  can  be  clearly  seen  in 
the  second  and  highest  class  pupils  in  our 
schools. 

With  love  the  case  is  not  much  different. 
It  is  true  we  hear  men  say  the  13th  chapter 
of  1st  Corinthians  is  "  exquisitely  beautiful." 
They  rejoice  at  marriages  and  find  comfort 
at  the  grave  in  the  words,  "  Love  never 
faileth."  But  then,  if  they  are  asked  more 
particularly  what  this  "  Christian  love  "  really 
is,  in  but  too  many  cases  a  multitude  of  words 
ill  conceals  the  poverty  of  thought  m  the 
reply.  Christian  love  is  thought  of  as  purely 
natural  love.  It  is  a  "  feeling  "  for  another 
person  ;  one  wishes  to  make  him  happy,  think- 
ing in  this  manner  to  become  happy  oneself. 
One  wishes  to  show  kindness  to  the  other, 
because  showing  kindness  is  pleasant  for  one- 
self also.  In  a  word,  the  ideas  cannot  be  got 
rid  of  which  have  been  formed  from  the  love 


FAITH  AND  LOVE  77 

of  the  sexes  to  each  other,  from  the  love  of 
relations  and  friends,  in  the  common  meaning 
and  range  of  the  term. 

I  fear  this  common  usage  will  introduce 
obscurity  and  confusion  into  our  exposition, 
although  we  saw  in  the  last  lecture  that  by 
faith  and  love  we  evidently  understand  some- 
thing different.  There  would,  indeed,  be 
nothing  more  absurd  than  to  draw  the  above- 
mentioned  conclusions  from  these  conceptions 
of  faith  and  love.  How  foolish  must  our 
observations  seem  to  him  who  has  not 
thoroughly  separated  himself  from  this  com- 
mon conception  of  faith  and  love — or  a  state- 
ment like  that  of  Paul's,  that  through  faith 
man  is  justified  before  God  !  From  my  hold- 
ing certain  doctrines  and  narratives  as  true, 
it  follows  that  God  is  my  Lord ;  or  from  my 
rendering  kindnesses  to  my  friends,  the  judg- 
ment is  confirmed  that  everything  in  the 
world  serves  a  final  goal  above  the  world ! 

But,  foolish  as  it  is,  one  can  often  hear  the 
Christian  religion  described  in  something  like 


78    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

this  way,  and  one  can  imagine  how  angry- 
earnest  and  thoughtful  men  are  at  this.  We 
must,  therefore,  keep  clearly  before  us  that 
the  subject  is  directly  and  expressly  the  nature 
of  Christian  faith  and  Christian  love  in 
sequence  on  our  last  lecture ;  and  owing  to 
the  importance  of  the  question  at  stake  for 
the  whole  development  of  our  thought,  we 
must  not  let  ourselves  be  discouraged. 

Christian  faith  has  primarily  nothing  to 
do  with  theoretical  dogmas  or  isolated  mir- 
aculous events.  It  is  not  the  "  holding  true  " 
of  a  holy  tradition.  Faith  is  a  purely  personal 
experience,  something  that  one  comes  to  know 
practically  and  to  be  immediately  sensible  of. 
Its  province  is  not  memory  or  theoretical 
comprehension ;  theories  are  not  its  object. 
One  may  know  and  understand  all  the  Church 
doctrines  and  "  assent "  fully  to  them,  and 
still  be  unbelieving ;  and  one  may  know  very 
little  of  all  these  doctrines  and  doubt  many 
of  them,  and  yet  be  a  believer.  One  may 
look    upon   worlds   above   with    the    eye    of 


FAITH  AND  LOVE  79 

phantasy  and  discourse  in  glowing  words  of 
the  power  of  faith,  while  all  the  time  the 
spark  is  wanting  in  the  heart.  There  is  no 
faith  there,  however  loudly  it  may  be  praised. 
What  are  we  to  understand  by  this  faith  ? 
We  hear  men  speak  of  God,  of  His  nature 
and  will,  of  His  love  and  His  claims  on  us, 
of  Christ  and  His  redemptive  work.  That 
may  often  happen  without  effecting  more 
than  to  give  us  a  number  of  theoretical  con- 
ceptions, which  seem  to  us  more  or  less 
probable.  They  remain  useless,  like  withered 
leaves,  or  rather  like  old  school-books  stored 
away  in  the  garret,  which  one  has  and  yet 
does  not  have.  But  then  there  comes  some- 
thing new.  We  experience  these  concep- 
tions ;  they  become  practical  truths  to  us, 
active  powers.  That  may  happen  at  one 
particular  moment  which  remains  fixed  in 
our  memory,  but  it  can  also — and  this  is  the 
rule — come  through  a  quite  slow  and  gradual 
experience.  The  result  is  the  same.  We 
become  sensible  of  the  living  God :  the  Pro- 


80    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

vidential  arrangements  of  our  life,  as  well  as 
what  we  have  heard  of  God,  are  immediately 
experienced  by  us  as  the  acts  and  operations 
of  God.  What  formerly  was  conception  is 
now  reality ;  what  formerly  mere  words  is 
now  the  power  of  God.  The  Gospel  is  a 
"  power  of  God,"  as  the  Apostle  Paul  says. 
The  words  that  we  have  heard  and  meditated 
on  become  "  in  truth  the  words  of  God." 

But  what  do  we  experience  then  ?  We 
experience  an  Almighty  Will  which  demands 
us  and  our  life.  We  feel  a  spiritual  authority 
directed  upon  us  that  captivates  us  and  dis- 
poses of  us.  We  become  conscious  of  the 
love  of  God  which  seeks  us  in  spite  of  our 
sin,  because  God  does  not  look  upon  our  sin. 
We  experience — to  sum  up  all  in  a  word — 
the  sovereignty  of  God,  and  through  it  re- 
demption from  sin  and  from  the  world. 

At  first  we  resist  this  experience.  It  is  as 
if  a  foreign  body  were  trying  to  penetrate  the 
eye  of  the  soul ;  we  blink  and  feel  uncomfort- 
able.    Then  we  submit,  inwardly  overpowered 


FAITH  AND  LOVE  81 

by  the  truth  of  the  matter.  A  terrible  revolu- 
tion of  thoughts  and  feelings  comes  over  us. 
We  receive  God's  working  in  us,  His  will  and 
His  authority,  willingly.  We  allow  God  to 
determine  the  content  of  our  soul.  We  ex- 
perience that  God  is  gracious  to  us  and  that 
He  moves  and  constrains  us  to  His  service. 
This  act  of  receiving  is  faith.  Faith  is  sub- 
mission to  God  :  it  is  obedience  and  it  is  trust. 
I  assent  to  the  will  which  demands  me,  and  I 
trust  the  absolute  authority  to  which  my  soul 
submits  itself.  There  is  nothing  by  which  one 
can  better  illustrate  what  faith  is  than  by  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  The  state  of  mind  which  the 
Lord's  Prayer  presupposes  and  expresses  is 
faith:  Thy  sovereignty  come,  Thy  will  be 
done,  forgive  us  our  debts. 

It  is  a  similar  occurrence  when  we  are 
strongly  influenced  by  a  powerful  and  good 
person  and  become  attached  to  that  person. 
But  the  difference  escapes  no  one.  We 
remain   in  part  free  as  regards  every  person, 

we  take  one  thing  and  decline  another;   but 

6 


82    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

here  we  feel  ourselves  quite  dependent.  And 
this  dependence  satisfies  us,  it  fills  our 
soul. 

That  is  Christian  faith.  The  act  of  receiv- 
ing, inward  submission,  obedience,  trust — that 
is  its  nature.  It  is  directed  to  God  and  only 
to  God,  to  His  working  and  His  actions. 
But  when  the  soul  in  this  way  becomes  aware 
of  God,  a  marvellous  and  immeasurable  change 
is  accomplished  in  it.  It  is  something  quite 
new  by  which  it  lives  and  in  which  it  is.  It  is 
new  and  yet  old.  The  conceptions  and  terms 
we  have  already  known  for  long,  such  as  God, 
grace,  forgiveness,  new  life.  But  they  were 
mere  words.  Now  they  become  realities.  We 
feel  ourselves  surrounded  by  a  world  which  is 
not  our  old  world  ;  the  words  become  powers. 
These  powers  extend  further  and  further  in  us 
and  around  us. 

And  these  powers  become  now  our  real 
world.  They  lift  us  above  ourselves,  above 
the  little  desires  and  paltry  cunning  of  our 
soul.     "Our   citizenship  is  in  heaven."     The 


FAITH  AND  LOVE  83 

power  by  which  we  hve  and  the  end  for  which 
we  live  are  from  another  world. 

But  we  are  in  this  world,  and  that 
spiritual  world  lives  and  moves  nowhere 
else  than  in  the  events  and  the  progress  we 
see,  hear,  and  experience,  and  we  cannot  do 
other  than  seek  for  it  in  the  world  of  reality. 
Everyone  knows  picture  puzzles.  At  first 
glance,  perhaps  trees  and  houses  are  to  be 
seen,  but  into  this  picture  another  is  wrought 
which  becomes  visible  only  to  him  who  looks 
for  it.  The  world  is  the  Christian's  picture 
puzzle.  He  seeks  and  finds  in  its  events 
another  picture,  God  and  the  world  of  His 
almighty  love.  And  when  he  has  found  this 
picture,  it  is  quite  difficult  for  him  to  find  the 
first  one  again. 

That  is  how  the  matter  stands.  He  who 
believes  feels  himself  surrounded  by  wonders 
— faith  is  always  faith  in  the  marvellous — for 
he  feels  the  nearness  of  the  all-ruling  Lord 
and  thereby  sees  the  inflexible  things  of  this 
world  become  pliant  means  in  the  hand  of  his 


84    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

God.  The  almighty  love  which  he  experi- 
ences transforms  for  him  his  view  of  the  world. 
He  is  sensible,  not  of  unbending  physical 
necessity,  but  of  the  hand  of  the  Father  who 
guides  all  things.  To  religious  faith  the 
dream  of  Joseph  becomes  reality :  sun,  moon, 
and  stars  come  and  serve  it. 

But  the  laws  of  the  world  remain  :  criticism 
and  reflection  fasten  on  the  experience  of  faith. 
"Problems"  arise,  and  no  healthy  mind  can 
escape  them.  A  process  of  comparing  and 
adjusting  takes  place  in  the  mind.  We  know 
that  from  our  own  life,  and  the  ages  of  criticism 
which  follow  times  of  faith  in  history  confirm 
it  to  us.  Coarseness  can  contradict  faith,  so 
can  culture ;  and  coarseness  and  culture  can 
borrow  from  each  other  also. 

We  hear  of  "  cold  unbelief,"  whether  the 
epithet  is  used  for  praise  or  for  blame.  Cold 
unbelief  is  seldom  seen  in  life.  Unbelief  is  wont 
to  make  its  appearance  hot  and  passionate. 
Who  is  there  that  cannot  call  up  examples  in 
his  mind  ?      The  passion  of  unbelief  is  a  proof 


FAITH  AND  LOVE  85 

for  faith.  There  is  in  unbelief  far  more  belief 
than  is  generally  thought.  Whence,  else,  the 
excitement  in  the  opposition  to  faith,  if  there 
were  not  something  subjective  in  the  heart  of 
the  unbeliever  that  spoke  for  faith  ? 

It  is  reality  that  faith  experiences.  Even 
its  opponent,  unbelief,  witnesses  to  that.  The 
fact  of  faith  witnesses  to  it.  Men  should 
not  always  go  on  acting  as  if  faith  in  its 
fanatical  enthusiasm  produced  enigmas,  which 
unbelief  then  solved  in  cold  blood.  Even  in 
the  world  as  looked  at  with  the  eye  of  faith 
there  remains  much  that  is  mysterious.  But 
the  greatest  enigma  of  existence  is  solved  by 
faith,  for  it  explains  the  aspiration  of  the 
human  spirit  after  an  eternal  world,  and  it 
gives  this  aspiration  a  fixed  and  sure  direction. 

If  the  world  of  faith  be  left  out  of  account, 
the  lesser  enigmas  are  not  solved,  and  the 
greatest  one  remains  too.  The  fact  of  Chris- 
tian piety,  with  all  the  blessing  and  all  the 
power  which  are  united  with  it,  the  mightiest 
exaltation  of  the  spirit  in  the  great  epochs  of 


86    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

our  history,  the  victories  of  idealism,  remain 
in  their  powerful  reality  great  enigmas  for 
him  who  does  not  recognise  faith,  and  the 
living  God  as  its  content.  These  are  at  least 
realities  not  less  real  than  the  facts  which  we 
obtain  from  the  observation  of  nature. 

And  when  the  problems  of  the  soul  arise  from 
the  contrast  between  the  world  of  faith  and  the 
universally  accessible  world,  they  are  soon  solved 
for  faith  as  such.  Faith  always  works  royally, 
for  it  deals  with  the  whole.  Since  it  experi- 
ences God,  the  whole  is  illumined  and  lighted 
up,  for  God  is  the  light  in  its  soul  that 
makes  the  world  bright — in  spite  of  all  things. 
To  the  theoretical  view  much  in  the  par- 
ticulars remains  dark :  the  practical  view  of 
faith  does  not  doubt,  because  it  feels  itself 
to  be  guided  and  determined  by  God.  The 
world  is  for  the  unbeliever  like  a  Hebrew 
text  without  vowel  points  ;  the  believer  under- 
stands the  sense  of  this  text,  for  he  carries  the 
vowels  in  himself  and  reads  them  into  the 
consonantal  text. 


FAITH  AND  LOVE  87 

It  is  not  a  few  more  dogmas  that  faith  gives 
us;  it  elevates  our  existence  and  puts  us  in 
touch  with  a  new  life.  A  change  occurs  which 
one  may  perhaps  compare  with  the  greatest 
change  of  natural  life,  when  the  child  be- 
comes a  young  man  or  woman.  One  has 
become  like  another  being  and  feels  oneself 
surrounded  by  a  world  of  new  realities.  New 
relations  and  new  interests,  wonderful  dreams, 
enchanting  visions,  a  new  life  and  frame  of 
mind  arise.  It  is  only  then  we  feel  ourselves 
complete  men,  men  as  our  parents  were  when 
we  were  born.  So  the  soul  which  attains  to 
faith  feels  itself  thereby  on  the  height  of 
humanity,  for  it  lives  in  the  communion  of 
the  life  and  work  of  God,  who  created  it  in 
the  image  of  His  spirituality. 

Such  is  the  case  with  faith.  The  question 
as  to  faith  is  therefore  the  subject  of  our  soul's 
history.  We  may  become  much  and  accom- 
plish great  things  without  faith,  but  the 
highest  for  which  the  soul  exists  is  to  be 
found  only  by  the  way  of  faith. 


88    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

There  are  two  touching  texts  about  faith  in 
the  New  Testament.  The  one  comes  from 
the  mouth  of  an  anxious  father,  "  Lord,  I 
believe,  help  Thou  mine  unbelief"  The  other 
was  directed  to  Jesus  by  the  apostles,  "  In- 
crease our  faith."  Our  life  does  not  grow 
beyond  these  two  requests,  and  it  goes  well 
with  it  when  it  lives  and  moves  in  them. 

We  recognised  that  the  essence  of  faith 
consists  in  the  receiving  into  us  of  the  workings 
of  God.  But  the  receptivity  in  us  takes  place 
with  reference  to  the  active  manifestation. 
Only  then  will  it  be  lasting  and  powerful  in  us 
when  it  passes  over  into  activity.  Stimula- 
tions, impulses,  views  which  we  receive  into 
us,  remain  ours  only  when  they  release  the 
practical  activity  in  us.  That  is  true  of  the 
religious  life  also. 

It  was  a  spiritual  Will  that  came  over  us  and 
drew  our  life  into  communion  with  itself  To 
be  in  communion  with  a  will  means  to  ex- 
perience its  ends  and  to  unite  them  with  ours. 
We  receive  new  ends  when  we  experience 


FAITH  AND  l.OVE  89 

God's  workings.  There  is  no  higher  gift  than 
ends.  They  come  from  the  deepest  in  the 
other's  Kfe  and  stir  up  the  deepest  in  ours. 
This  gift  becomes  straightway  a  task  for  us. 
Now  the  purpose  of  God,  which  I  experience 
immediately  in  myself,  and  which  is  in  the 
same  way  experienced  by  all  who  are  sensible 
of  the  presence  of  God,  is  salvation,  blessed- 
ness, life,  satisfaction.  To  experience  God  is 
to  receive  His  purpose  into  our  hearts.  The 
blessedness  and  salvation  of  all,  full  un- 
hindered life,  the  elevation  of  human  existence 
above  the  earthly — that  is  the  purpose  of  the 
soul  that  believes,  for  it  is  God's  purpose.  It 
is  the  Kingdom  of  God  that  the  sovereignty  of 
God  effects.  To  devote  oneself  to  this  end 
with  all  the  powers  of  the  soul,  to  work  for  it 
and  to  serve  it — that  is  to  love. 

Love  is  directed  in  the  first  place  to  God 
Himself.  I  serve  Him  with  hearty  will  who 
is  become  my  Lord  and  my  authority.  Peter 
was  bidden  show  his  love  to  Christ  in  feeding 
Christ's  lambs.     He  who  loves  God  will  love 


90    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

those  whom  God  loves.  He  wiU  serve  God  in 
serving  men.  But  he  serves  them  that  they 
may  attain  to  the  highest  and  best.  He  loves 
them  really  in  striving  that  they  may  feel 
God's  sovereignty  and  serve  His  Kingdom. 
That  is  "  the  best  in  the  world  "  for  him,  and, 
staking  his  power  and  his  interest  on  it,  he 
sets  to  work  conformably  to  and  in  virtue 
of  the  sovereignty  of  God  which  he  has  ex- 
perienced, and  again  he  busies  himself — serving 
God,  with  the  highest  service  which  can  be 
rendered  to  the  world.  The  soul  has  ex- 
perienced the  blessedness  of  communion  and 
of  the  service  of  God,  and  therefore  it  desires 
— as  God  has  willed  for  it — this  blessedness 
and  greatness  for  all  men. 

To  work  spiritually,  to  promote  inwardly, 
to  elevate  and  widen  life — that  is  the  love  of 
the  Christian.  Love  is  the  law  of  the  moral 
perfecting  of  spirits.  It  extends  through  the 
whole  Christian's  life  and  work ;  it  ennobles 
and  transfigures  upbringing  and  family  life, 
friendship   and   intercourse,    social   work    and 


FAITH  AND  LOVE  91 

civil  duty.  It  does  not  overawe  and  trample 
down,  but  frees  and  animates.  It  does  not 
flatter  and  it  does  not  lead  astray,  but  it  brings 
the  truth  and  leads  to  the  truth.  It  desires 
not  bodies  but  souls,  it  seeks  not  only  temporal 
delight  but  eternal  satisfaction.  It  desires  not 
to  bind  to  itself  but  to  attach  to  God.  It 
uses  many  kinds  of  means  for  this  end  :  earnest- 
ness as  well  as  mildness,  strictness  as  well  as 
mercifulness,  outward  help  as  well  as  inward 
advancement.  But,  however  it  appears,  what- 
ever speech  it  uses,  the  aim  remains  the  same : 
to  win  men's  souls  to  the  sovereignty  of  God 
and  His  service,  and  thereby  to  bring  them 
life,  happiness,  and  blessedness,  to  advance 
them  to  the  highest  elevation  of  existence. 

And  now  that  we  understand  what  faith 
and  love  are  and  their  inner  connection,  we 
shall  see  too  that  we  were  not  hanging  hundred- 
weights on  spiders'  webs  when  we  said  :  Where 
faith  and  love  are,  there  is  the  sovereignty 
of  God  and  the  Kingdom  of  God.  Has  the 
mighty  step  been  taken  by  a  soul,  the  step 


92    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

of  experiencing  in  the  midst  of  this  world  the 
supramundane  God  and  of  serving  Him  ? 
Then  that  soul  may  be  certain  of  this  God, 
His  sovereignty  and  His  Kingdom. 

Well,  says  someone,  that  may  be  so,  but 
w^hat  does  that  profit  vie'^.  for  I  hear  in  the 
word  "  God  "  only  an  abstract  term.  But  the 
truth  always  profits.  Or  is  it  of  no  profit  to 
understand  wherein  the  essence  of  Christianity 
really  consists  and  what  it  means  for  millions  ? 
Is  it  of  no  profit  to  have  heard  the  importance 
for  our  soul  of  what  we  should  seek  and 
receive  ?  Of  course,  no  man  can  give  another 
faith,  and  therefore  should  not  try.  But  it  is 
always  worth  while  to  talk  of  the  one  marvel- 
lous thing  that  makes  men  free  and  strong, 
eternal  and  blessed  in  the  midst  of  a  decaying, 
transient  world.  And  so  these  thoughts  will 
be  of  profit  to  those  who  experience  them 
along  with  us,  and  to  those  who  only  '*  hear  " 
them. 

But  now  let  us  turn  to  our  development 
again.     One  point  still   remains   in  darkness. 


FAITH  AND  LOVE  93 

It  may  be  expressed  thus :  We  have  hitherto 
spoken  of  Christianity  as  a  kind  of  philosophico- 
moral  view  of  the  world  ;  or  we  have  dealt 
only  with  subjective  religiousness.  Christi- 
anity is,  however,  a  historical  magnitude  ;  it  is 
a  religion,  and  forms  a  Church.  What  should 
be,  and  what  can  be,  our  relation  to  it  ? 

These  questions  can  be  dealt  with  only  in 
part  in  this  connection  :  other  things  must  be 
reserved  for  a  future  explanation.  In  the  next 
lecture  they  will  be  more  fully  treated. 


LECTURE  VI 

Christianity  as  Positive  Religion 

At  the  close  of  the  last  lecture  the  question 
arose,  Can  Christianity,  as  it  has  been  up  to 
this  point  described,  be  designated  religion  ? 

It  is,  to  begin  with,  evident  that  the  descrip- 
tion is  as  yet  incomplete,  for  a  more  exact 
consideration  of  the  positive  significance  of  the 
person  of  Christ  in  Christianity  was  intention- 
ally left  out  of  account.  The  thoughts  of  the 
sovereignty  and  Kingdom  of  God,  of  faith  and 
love,  were  taken  as  "given"  Christian  thoughts, 
without  express  reflection  on  the  fact  that  it  is 
Christ  who  gave  and  gives  them  to  mankind. 
That  was  presupposed.  It  is  to  the  filling  up 
of  this  gap  that  the  question  which  has  been 
raised  leads. 

94 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  POSITIVE  RELIGION    95 

Every  religion  is  a  positive  or  historical 
thing.  It  is  no  product  of  speculation,  but 
whenever  and  wherever  always  primarily  a 
matter  of  experience.  Religion  has  a  begin- 
ning and  experiences  a  historical  development. 
It  contains  definite  teachings  and  institutions  ; 
it  exists  as  a  visible  historical  community,  or 
as  a  Church. 

The  Christian  religion  has  its  beginning  in 
Jesus  Christ.  This  statement  has  a  twofold 
significance.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  first  repre- 
sentative of  the  Christian  religion.  This  one 
fact  is  sufficient  to  raise  His  person  to  the 
highest  heights.  It  is  not  our  talent  and  our 
actions,  not  our  successes  or  failures,  but  that 
we  have  experienced  God,  that  places  us  on 
the  heights  of  humanity.  Tried  according  to 
this  standard,  Christ  becomes  for  our  Christian 
view  in  the  first  instance  the  ideal  man,  who 
represents  in  Himself  as  something  surely 
experienced  that  which  raises  mankind  to 
the  highest  point  of  its  being.  But  this 
greatest  and  best  He  Himself  introduced  into 


96    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

the  hearts  of  men  through  the  power  of  His 
Hfe,  and  accomphshed  it  in  the  history  of 
humanity.  He  is  still  to-day  the  highest 
authority  of  Christendom.  It  is  no  accident 
that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  one  historical  person- 
ality on  whom  mankind  confers  the  title 
"  Lord  "  without  limitation,  for  in  His  words  is 
felt  to  be  almighty  power.  His  words  are  the 
expression  of  the  Divine  will ;  in  them  is  that 
power  which  awakes  faith  in  us  and  gives  it  its 
content — we  understand  now  what  that  means. 
On  that  account  the  person  of  Christ  has 
for  us  marvellous  and  Divine  character.  The 
primary  question  here  is  not  one  of  "  dogma," 
but  of  the  experience  of  faith,  that  Jesus'  words 
awaken  faith  or  absolute  submission :  "To 
whom  shall  we  go  ?  Thou  hast  the  words  of 
eternal  life."  Jesus  is  Divine  and  marvellous, 
for  the  Spirit's  almighty  power  is  His  own. 
Not  in  the  realm  of  nature  is  the  real  home  of 
the  marvellous,  but  in  the  soul  of  man.  Where 
spirit  determines  nature,  this  sphere  begins ;  and 
where  one  spirit  determines  the  other,  we  are 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  POSITIVE  RELIGION    97 

at  its  middle  point.  But  it  is  only  Christ  who 
has  absolute  power  over  spirits.  As  that  is 
unique  which  Christ  works  in  us,  so  His 
person  stands  unique  in  the  world's  history. 
Of  other  founders  of  religions  also  marvellous 
things  are  reported.  But  the  marvellous  clings 
to  them  like  a  robe  of  office,  like  an  ornament 
or  badge  of  honour.  Christ's  personal  life  and 
work  is  a  marvel.  Those  men  became  great 
and  greater  through  miracles.  Christ  is  so 
great  that  the  single  miracles  in  relation  to 
Him  become  small.  But  precisely  on  that 
account  is  He  the  only  one  whom  we  can 
really  believe  capable  of  miracles  of  every 
kind. 

It  is  a  barring  of  one's  own  way  to  under- 
standing the  matter,  if  one  depends  on  this  or 
that  outward  miracle  and  declares  it  possible 
or  impossible.  Both  come  to  the  same  thing 
here.  In  this  way  one  falls  into  the  sphere  of 
pure  observation  of  nature.  We  understand 
the  natural  so  far  as  we  can   grasp  its  laws. 

He  who  begins  here  naturally  does  not  get 

7 


98    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

any  further  than  perhaps  the  resigned  explana- 
tion, miracles  may  be  possible.  A  man  who 
can  be  trusted  with  an  unprejudiced  judgment 
in  these  things,  Martin  Luther,  said :  people 
call  it  "great  miracles,"  when  blind  see  and 
deaf  hear,  but  Christ  "looks  upon  that  as 
greater  which  happens  in  souls,"  by  as  much  as 
the  soul  is  more  than  the  body.  But  these 
great  spiritual  miracles  happen  every  day, 
namely,  in  that  Christ's  word  produces  faith, 
gives  blessedness  and  peace.  This  is  the  first 
miracle  that  has  to  be  dealt  with  in  the  miracle 
problem.  Only  he  who  knows  it  understands 
the  marvellous.  One  must  have  come  into  the 
sphere  of  the  marvellous  with  the  life  of  his 
soul  to  have  the  right  to  judge  as  to  miracles. 
He  who  has  the  experience  that  Christ  makes 
the  powers  of  his  soul  and  the  whole  of  nature 
living  to  him  does  not  find  nature  around  him 
too  strong  or  too  great  for  Jesus'  wonder- 
working power  setting  bounds  to  it.  The 
"  how  "  gives  him  little  trouble.  Why !  this 
fireedom  from  care  characterises  faith.     How- 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  POSITIVE  RELIGION    99 

ever  it  happens  that  Christ  works  miracles, 
it  is  for  faith  immediately  certain.  The 
sovereignty  which  Christ  exercises  is  Divine, 
therefore  it  is  also  all  -  comprehensive  and 
all-penetrating.  This  judgment  is,  however, 
not  got  from  the  observation  of  nature,  but 
from  experiencing  the  power  of  Christ.  There- 
fore faith  does  not  see  itself  any  more  pointed 
to  such  proof  as  natural  science  gives.  Even 
historical  criticism  affects  it  but  slightly.  Is 
Christ  the  Lord  of  the  world  ?  Then  is  His 
working  marvellous  ;  and  in  the  measure  that 
the  spirit  inwardly  takes  possession  of  this 
working,  the  miracle  and  the  miracles  of  Christ 
conform  themselves  to  it.  In  the  particular 
eases  the  religious  soul — but  it  must  be  re- 
ligious— can  view  the  prospect  calmly,  with- 
out fear  and  without  biassed  apologetics.  It 
has  the  whole,  and  withstands  the  rational- 
istic impulse  to  break  down  the  whole  into 
particulars,  to  draw  it  down  into  the  sphere 
of  the  common  and  profane. 

We  have,  then,  acknowledged   that  Jesus 


100  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

is  the  beginner  and  author  of  the  Christian 
rehgion.  He  is  that  through  the  thoughts 
and  deeds  which  He  once  spoke  and  did. 

However  immediately  present  His  will 
becomes  to  our  soul,  He  does  not  speak  to 
us  to-day  in  other  or  new  words  as  opposed 
to  His  historical  revelation.  Ecstatics  and 
visionaries  who  saw  Christ  and  heard  His 
words  again,  could  after  all  do  nothing  more 
than  hand  down  His  historical  words,  or  else 
expositions  and  enlargements  of  them.  The 
presence  of  Christ  is  not  to  be  represented  as 
the  intermittent  presence  of  a  creature  con- 
ditioned by  space  and  time,  but  as  eternal  Will 
He  becomes  manifest  in  His  historical  words. 
In  these  words  is  eternal,  omnipresent,  personal 
life-power  to-day  not  less  active  than  then. 

And  now  we  understand  what  a  mighty 
significance  belongs  to  the  reports  of  Jesus' 
sayings  and  working.  They  lie  before  us  in  the 
Gospels.  But  we  see  ourselves  pointed  beyond 
these.  The  mightier  the  immediate  historical 
effects  produced   by  a  person   are,  the  more 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  POSITIVE  RELIGION  101 

vividly  do  these  effects  reflect  the  tendency 
and  character  of  the  person.  He  who  wishes 
to  understand  the  historical  Jesus  will  there- 
fore have  recourse  to  the  witnesses  who  came 
under  the  first  unmixed  effects  of  the  spirit  of 
Jesus.  In  this  sense  the  complex  of  writings 
which  we  designate  the  New  Testament 
comes  into  consideration  for  us  as  testimony 
to  Jesus  Christ. 

The  richer  and  more  manifold  the  religious 
views  and  experiences  in  these  writings  are, 
the  more  valuable  are  they  as  sources  for  the 
original  understanding  of  Christ.  The  Syn- 
optists  have  not  really  narrated  a  history  of 
Jesus — there  are  large  gaps,  chronological 
order  is  as  good  as  wanting ; — they  wished 
rather  to  show  by  carefully  selected  and 
grouped  words  and  actions  of  Jesus  how  He 
revealed  the  sovereignty  of  God  on  earth. 
In  the  same  way,  perhaps,  the  oldest  oral 
instruction  on  the  working  of  Christ  was  also 
arranged:  the  plan  and  divisions  of  this  part 
of  Christian  instruction  probably  decided  the 


102    TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

order  of  the  material  with  the  Synoptists. — 
Paul  gives  expression  to  the  conception  that 
the  historical  Jesus  is  now  "Lord"  and  "Spirit," 
the  Spirit-power  penetrating   and  ruling  the 
universe.     God  has  put  the  world  under  His 
feet ;   He  who  fills  all  in  all  exercises   God's 
sovereignty  and  is  the   head  of  the  Church. 
He  is  in  us  and  we  in  Him. — John  wishes  to 
show  that  He  who,  as  the  Lord,  is  now  the 
way  and  the  truth,  the  Ught  and  life  of  the 
world,  and  He  who  once  Uved,  taught,  worked, 
suffered   and   died   in   Palestine  is  the  same. 
The  Eternal  Word  of  God  became  flesh  in  this 
personality.     John  represents  the  earthly  life 
of  Christ,  which  was  known  to  him,  in   the 
light   of  the  reUgious  experience  and  know- 
ledge  which,  after  the   resurrection,  he  won 
from   Christ   and    in   Christ.      Certainly   the 
difference  of  intention  and  field  of  vision  in 
John  and  the  Synoptists  presents  the  historian 
with  many  kinds  of  questions.     But  all  these 
questions,  whether  they  can  be   answered  in 
the  particulars  or  not,  do  not  touch  the  princi- 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  POSITIVE  RELIGION  103 

pal  point  with  which  we  are  concerned  here. 
According  to  the  conviction  of  the  first  genera- 
tions which  came  under  the  influence  of  the 
working  of  Christ,  this  working  is  a  lasting 
one.  Christ  lives  on  in  divine  power  as  the 
Lord  of  mankind.  Not  only  John  and  Paul, 
but  the  Synoptists  too,  represent  this  convic- 
tion, for  there  is  nothing  more  unhistorical 
than  the  assumption  that  the  Synoptists  wished 
to  picture  Christ  as  a  kind  of  pious,  thoughtful 
Rabbi.  His  earthly  life  and  working,  accord- 
ing to  their  opinion,  was  only  the  beginning  of 
His  working  (Acts  i.  1 ;  Mark  i.  1).  But  if  this 
view  of  Christ  is  common  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment writings,  then  it  must  go  back  to  Christ 
Himself.  The  living,  risen  Christ  instructed 
the  disciples,  so  we  hear  in  the  oldest  reports 
(and  later  fancies  confirm  the  fact  in  their  own 
way),  as  to  His  person  and  its  significance.  In 
this  and  in  the  lasting  and  continuous  influ- 
ences received  from  Him  was  rooted  the 
common  faith  of  the  apostolic  time.  Now  if 
one  should  say,  "  That  is  of  course  only  a  later 


104  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

view;  Christ  Himself  did  not  think  so,"  it 
is  precisely  His  discourses  as  given  by  the 
Synoptists  which  teach  us  that,  so  this  ob- 
jection lacks  all  historical  foundation.  Even 
apart  from  the  reports  as  to  the  risen  Christ, 
it  is  still  historically  quite  certain  that  Jesus 
felt  Himself  to  be  Lord  and  Judge  of  the 
universe,  who  should  come  again  in  glory,  and 
the  only  revealer  of  God,  and  that  He  de- 
signated Himself  as  such.  There  is  an  interval 
between  this  judgment  as  to  Himself  and  the 
words  of  His  disciples,  but  it  is  only  relative. 
From  a  purely  historical  standpoint,  it  is  safer 
to  minimise  than  to  exaggerate  it. 

Then  we  may  say,  the  experience  of  the  first 
witnesses  of  Christ  and  His  witness  to  Himself 
stand  in  a  positive  and  inner  connection  with 
the  knowledge  of  Christ  which  the  long 
generations  of  history  have  experienced  and 
won. 

These  are  the  fundamental  thoughts  of  the 
New  Testament  revelation.  It  stands  in  con- 
nection with  the   Old   Testament.      Nothing 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  POSITIVE  RELIGION  105 

higher  can  be  said  in  its  praise  than  that  Jesus 
read  it  and  founded  His  thoughts  on  it.  In 
these  books,  which  are  records  of  a  long  spiri- 
tual history,  there  is  to  be  seen  at  the  same 
time  the  preparation  for  the  thoughts  of  Jesus. 
They  trained  men  for  Christ.  Think  on  the 
prophets'  idea  of  God:  Jahve,  the  Lord  of 
the  world,  who  guides  the  destinies  of  His 
people  and  of  the  nations  in  almighty  love  to 
the  salvation  of  mankind.  Try  to  realise  the 
piety  of  the  Psalms  :  "  Whom  have  I  in  heaven 
but  Thee  ?  and  there  is  none  upon  earth  that 
I  desire  besides  Thee.  My  flesh  and  my  heart 
faileth :  but  God  is  the  strength  of  my  heart, 
and  my  portion  for  ever."  A  consideration  of 
these  thoughts  enables  one  to  grasp  the  educa- 
tive power  of  the  Eternal  Spirit  of  God  in 
these  books. 

The  New  Testament,  and  with  it  the  Old, 
became  the  holy  Book  of  Christendom.  The 
Bible  was  declared  to  be  the  home  of  religious 
thoughts  and  their  purest  source. 

What  does   that   mean  ?      It   is   a   simple. 


106  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

natural,  and  obvious  thought.  For  deciding 
what  Christianity  really  is,  information  is  to 
be  obtained  from  those  who  came  under  the 
original  effect  of  the  spirit  of  Christ.  This 
spirit  continued  to  work  and  works  still.  But 
the  more  stirring  the  effects  of  its  operation 
became,  the  easier  it  was  to  mix  with  the 
expression  given  them  in  thought  and  word  a 
foreign,  natural,  Jewish  or  Hellenic  element. 
The  mightier  the  rush  of  the  waters  through  the 
bed  of  the  stream,  the  more  is  the  mud  and  sand 
stirred  up.  Perhaps  that  was  never  so  strongly 
felt  as  in  the  Church  of  the  second  century, 
and  we  may  think  perhaps,  by  way  of  parallel, 
on  the  "  enthusiasts  "  of  the  Reformation  time. 
To  the  wild  working  of  ecstatic  spirits  then, 
for  example  among  Gnostics  and  Montanists, 
who,  in  the  long  run,  had  nothing  better  and 
deeper  to  say  than  the  many  **  prophets  "  and 
enthusiasts  in  the  agitated  Reformation  time, 
the  Church  opposed  the  word  and  tradition. 
**  It  is  written  "  and  "  the  tradition  is  "  were 
constantly  heard. 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  POSITIVE  RELIGION  107 

This  was  an  action  of  mighty  consequence. 
The  centuries  have  felt  its  influence  till  the 
present  day.  There  remained  a  firm  break- 
water in  the  Church,  however  violently  the 
waves  of  fanaticism  and  hierarchy,  of  asceticism 
and  flight  from  the  world,  of  degradation  and 
worldly  pleasure  raged.  No  stronger  bulwark 
could  be  found  than  this.  History  has  attested 
it.  Manifold  subjective  experiences  were 
opposed  by  objective  history,  natural  excite- 
ment by  divine  revelation. 

This  was  the  position  the  Church  took  up 
towards  the  close  of  the  second  Christian  cen- 
tury in  the  great  struggles  against  the  "  Spirit " 
which  the  Gnostics  and  Montanists  claimed 
to  possess.  Men  upheld  the  authority  of  the 
Bible.  They  did  it  in  their  own  way.  The 
simple  historical  thought  that  only  that  is 
Christian  which  can  justify  its  existence  from 
the  original  records  of  primitive  Christianity 
was  thrust  into  a  foreign  mould.  From  the 
Greeks  was  borrowed  the  idea  of  an  inspiration 
which  made  the  authors  merely  the  pens  of  the 


108  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

Spirit.  From  the  later  Judaism  came  the  in- 
flexible idea  of  the  Bible  as  a  code  of  laws,  the 
individual  texts  of  which,  apart  from  their  con- 
nection with  the  whole,  were  to  be  looked  on 
as  legal  precepts  or  teachings  of  equal  value  and 
authority,  just  like  a  compilation  of  paragraphs 
of  *'  divine  Law."  It  was  only  then  that  the 
"  Canon  "  seemed  to  be  binding  enough. 

And  even  in  this  conception  and  under- 
standing of  it,  it  brought  endless  blessing  to 
seeking  souls  and  to  the  growing  Church. 
But  the  consequences  of  the  error  did  not  fail 
to  appear,  and  they  could  not  have  failed  to 
appear  without  the  error  destroying  religion. 
Systems  of  doctrine  were  built  up  from  single 
texts,  theories  of  natural  science  and  of  philo- 
sophy were  taken  from  the  Bible  and  used  to 
bolster  up  hierarchical  sacerdotalism  and  its 
tendencies.  Biblical  language  was  used  by 
those  who  stood  at  an  infinite  distance  from  the 
spirit  of  the  Bible ;  judgment  was  pronounced 
on  views  and  ideals  according  to  the  Bible,  and 
fell  itself  under  the  judgment  of  the  Bible  ;  the 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  POSITIVE  RELIGION  109 

divine  spirit  of  the  book  was  praised,  but  sup- 
pressed where  and  however  it  appeared  in  life. 
Martin  Luther  freed  us  from  this  error. 
He  recognised  with  the  wonderful  freedom 
from  prejudice  and  the  truthfulness  which 
belong  to  genuine  faith  that  the  Bible,  being  a 
book  which  originated  in  the  course  of  a  long 
history,  is  on  that  account  subject  also  to 
historical  consideration,  that  is,  to  critical 
examination ;  that  it  can  and  should  be 
authoritative  only  with  reference  to  one  thing, 
the  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ — in  other  words, 
of  the  sovereignty  and  Kingdom  of  God.  It 
is  not  what  the  Bible  contains  of  cosmology 
and  psychology,  of  metaphysics  and  exegesis, 
that  is  authoritative,  but  what  the  Bible  says 
about  religion.  Religion  is  its  content;  and 
this  content  makes  use  of  many  means  of 
expression  just  as  the  time  and  its  culture 
brought  them  and  used  them.  And  with  this 
there  is  a  further  point  connected.  That 
going  back  upon  tradition  and  scripture, 
wholesome   as   it   was,  yet   fettered   religious 


110  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

experience.  What  was  written  and  handed 
down  was  right ;  that  through  which  it  first 
wins  its  right,  namely,  personal  experience, 
was  pushed  aside.  Therein  lay  a  tremendous 
danger.  Perhaps  Christianity  in  the  second 
century  was  saved  by  becoming  a  book- 
religion,  but  every  book-religion  is  threatened 
by  the  danger  of  becoming  a  legal  religion,  and 
every  legal  religion  stifles  religiousness.  But 
what  is  religion  without  religiousness  ?  Here, 
too,  Luther  saw  clearly  because  he  lived  in 
faith.  He  recognised  anew  the  right  of  sub- 
jective faith — of  the  Spirit.  We  experience 
God's  revelation,  and,  in  experiencing  it  or 
Christ,  Christ  becomes  our  Lord  and  the 
Scripture  our  authority. 

Everyone  knows  how  slowly  this  recogni- 
tion of  Luther's  gained  ground :  in  spite  of 
it  the  Church  presently  returned  to  the  old 
track.  The  old  track  had  to  be  in  many  ways 
destroyed  by  a  crude  unhistorical  criticism,  by 
a  puerile  scepticism  in  union  with  irreligious 
historical   theories,    by    an    unbridled,    unhis- 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  POSITIVE  RELIGION  111 

torical  subjectivity,  ere  it  was  recognised  that 
Luther's  way  was  the  only  practicable  way. 
By  this  I  do  not  wish  in  any  way  to  give 
an  opinion  as  to  the  historico-critical  view  of 
the  Bible — what  I  said  at  first  shows  how  far 
I  am  from  that ;  1  wish  only  to  show  how  it 
came  about  that  such  violent  means  as  were 
used  were  needed  to  give  free  scope  to  a 
religious  understanding  of  the  Bible. 

But  no  opinion  could  be  so  premature  as 
that  we  were  in  these  things,  so  to  say,  over 
the  difficulty.  Even  yet  the  old  conception — 
it  is  not  Luther's — finds  representatives  in  our 
midst,  who  believe  that  it  is  a  surrendering 
of  religion  to  give  history  its  right.  And  that 
lurking  distrustful  scepticism  has  not  yet  died 
out  among  us  which  rises  when  Biblical  books 
and  Biblical  stories  are  spoken  about,  as  if 
behind  the  Bible  stood  a  band  of  fanatical 
and  crafty  forgers. 

But  it  is  not  there  that  the  chief  difficulty 
lies.  It  is  another  thing,  and  it  is  the  same  for 
the  book  as  for  the  matter.     It  is  before  all 


112  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

the  question  as  to  the  reports  of  facts  in  New 
Testament  history — for  example,  the  birth 
and  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  His  miracles. 
Some  discover  in  them  sacred  symbols  of 
pious  phantasy,  rehgious  projections  thrown 
from  the  depth  of  the  heart  on  the  screen  of 
objective  reahty ;  others  think  the  miracles 
were  the  necessary  means  for  breaking  through 
the  power  of  evil  in  the  world.  Others  again 
look  on  these  facts  as  means  which  God  used 
in  reference  to  the  religiousness  and  spiritual 
condition  of  the  age  of  revelation  to  bring 
in  His  sovereignty  in  the  world,  to  accredit 
Christ.  It  would  be  rash  to  attempt  a  solu- 
tion of  these  problems  here  —  penetrating 
theological  and  historical  considerations  are 
involved.  We  have  spoken  of  the  miraculous 
in  Christ,  and  shall  come  back  on  some  of 
these  points  in  speaking  of  the  person  and 
work  of  Christ.  There  some  of  the  threads 
which  we  put  aside  at  present  can  be  taken 
up  again. 

Whatever  position  be  taken  up  with  refer- 


CHRISTIANITY  AS  POSITIVE  RELIGION  113 

ence  to  these  problems,  one  point  must  here 
be  attended  to.  He  who  is  in  earnest  about 
the  Christian  religion — that  is,  he  for  whom  it 
is  the  Christian  rehgion  itself,  and  not  a  mere 
discussion  about  it,  that  is  important — should 
not  depend  on  the  changing  critical  or  un- 
critical "  results  "  of  the  theologians  ;  and  that 
holds  of  the  theologians  themselves  in  the 
long  run.  He  should  not  wish  to  force  an 
entrance  by  the  thorn-hedge  of  criticism  or  the 
spiked  railing  of  dogmatics,  but  should  seek 
entrance  where  an  open  door  leads  him  into 
communion  with  Christ.  But  over  this  door 
stand  the  words,  "  Come  unto  Me,  all  ye  that 
labour  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give 
you  rest "  ;  "  He  that  belie veth  on  Me  shall 
live  "  ;  and  "  Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom  of  God 
and  His  righteousness,  and  all  these  things 
shall  be  added  unto  you."  Yes,  under  the 
sovereignty  of  God  all  things  will  fall  to  our 
lot.  We  depend  upon  that.  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  content  of  Scripture.     In   Him  God's 

sovereignty  becomes  manifest,  and  the  power 

8 


114  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

of  the  Holy  Spirit  subdues  men  to  this 
sovereignty,  transforming  them  thereby  to 
organs  for  the  reahsation  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God.     That  is  the  kernel  of  Holy  Scripture. 

If  we  look  back  now,  we  may  say :  It  was 
not  speculation  that  led  us  to  the  thoughts  of 
the  sovereignty  of  God  and  faith,  the  King- 
dom of  God  and  love,  but  we  have  received 
these  positive  religious  fundamental  ideas 
from  the  revelation  of  Christ.  We  have 
endeavoured,  then,  to  understand  it.  Jesus 
Christ  exercises  the  sovereignty  of  God  and 
binds  us  thereby  to  the  ideal  of  the  Kingdom 
of  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  works  through  this 
activity  faith  and  love  in  our  souls. 


LECTURE  VII 

Church  Dogma 

In  stating  the  hindrances  to  faith  at  the  pre- 
sent day  it  is  usual  to  dwell  on  two  points, 
miracle  and  dogma.  In  the  last  lecture  the 
true  way  to  a  religious  understanding  of  miracle 
was  found. 

The  subject  for  present  consideration  is 
Dogma.  Jesus  Christ  has  revealed  a  new 
life  to  the  world.  Men  experienced  this 
life  as  a  spiritual  possession.  It  was  an 
experiencing  of  the  Divine  sovereignty  and 
a  reaching  forth  towards  the  realisation  and 
attainment  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  But 
the  spiritual  life  needs  forms  and  order. 
Our  spiritual  possession  subsists  in  no  other 
form^j  than    that    of    cohering     conceptions, 

115 


116  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

which  are  the  expression  of  our  spiritual 
possession. 

There  is  a  further  point  connected  with  this 
first  one.  This  spiritual  possession  was  not 
given  to  one  but  to  many;  it  belonged  to  a 
community  and  it  existed  as  a  common  pos- 
session. But  what  was  common  to  all  was 
experienced  by  each  one  individually.  In  this 
common  experience  its  possessors  discovered 
the  highest  and  most  precious  content  of  history 
and  of  their  soul.  From  that  sprang  practical 
tasks.  A  community  arose  which  had  to 
preserve  and  care  for  this  possession,  to  trans- 
mit and  expound  it.  That  community  is  the 
Church. 

But  this  possession  subsisted  in  conceptions. 
Conceptions  reflect  life  ;  but  the  mirror  of  the 
human  spirit  is  not  merely  a  mirror.  It  reads 
a  connection  into  what  is  given,  and  then 
adapts  it  to  its  former  spiritual  content ;  it 
coins  formulae.  The  greater  and  newer  a 
spiritual  acquisition  is,  the  more  powerfully  is 
it  felt  and  experienced  in  the  first  instance  as 


CHURCH  DOGMA  117 

a  unity  and  a  whole.  We  come  to  know  this 
condition  in  the  New  Testament  writings 
with  their  uniform  fundamental  view  and  with 
the  varied  forms  of  presentation  which  they 
employ.  But  there  follows  of  inward  necessity 
a  time  when  an  endeavour  is  made  to  trans- 
form the  many  views  and  feelings  into  a  short, 
concise  system.  We  experience  that  in  per- 
sonal life,  as  mankind  does  in  history.  With 
reference  to  Christianity  one  may,  for  example, 
call  to  mind  the  oldest  attempts  towards  such 
a  summary  in  the  baptismal  confessions,  from 
which  the  so-called  Apostles'  Creed  arose. 

When  the  human  spirit  attends  to  this  its 
need,  it  attains  indeed  to  greater  clearness, 
to  deeper  understanding,  and  to  firmer  grasp 
of  the  matter.  The  spirit  wins  this  insight, 
and  does  so  in  asserting  it  against  a  different 
understanding  of  the  matter  which  seems  to 
it  false  and  dangerous.  But  it  involuntarily 
disarranges  and  diminishes  the  given  content, 
in  these  formations  and  oppositions.  The 
spirit  becomes  clearer  but  at  the   same  time 


118  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

poorer ;  it  holds  its  possession  faster,  but  the 
possession  has  become  smaller. 

That  is  the  tragedy  of  human  thought.  It 
is  experienced  not  less  in  studying  the  history 
of  philosophic  schools  and  religions  than  in 
a  comparison  of  the  richness  of  life  with  the 
scantiness  of  our  conceptions  of  the  ex- 
perienced. One  may  lament  over  this  and 
yet  see  the  necessity  of  it.  Thousands  of 
blossoms  deck  the  tree  in  spring,  but  only  a 
few  are  changed  with  summer  into  fruit  and 
come  to  ripeness  in  autumn.  The  tree  would 
die  if  it  brought  all  the  germs  of  life  to 
maturity.  But  it  is  different  in  the  history 
of  mind.  There  is  no  fading  here  as  in  the 
blossom  on  the  tree.  The  germs  of  mental 
life  live  on,  like  the  corn  in  the  tombs  of  Egypt 
which  has  kept  its  life-power  for  thousands 
of  years ;  and  there  comes  a  time  when  they 
too  will  take  effect.  And  so  it  can  be  under- 
stood that,  when  the  curtain  falls  after  the 
single  acts  of  the  history  of  mind,  we  ex- 
perience   not    only  resignation   but   hope   as 


CHURCH  DOGMA  119 

well — resignation  as  to  what  has  not  come, 
hope  that  it  must  yet  come. 

This  double  experience  is  perhaps  nowhere 
so  much  felt  as  in  the  study  of  Church  History. 
The  greater  the  gift,  the  heavier  the  task. 
The  mightier  the  streams  of  blessing  that 
pour  in,  the  greater  the  lack  of  vessels  to  re- 
ceive it.  The  truth  and  the  life  were  given 
to  men  fully  in  Jesus  Christ.  A  springtime 
blossomed  such  as  man  has  never  seen  again, 
and  its  fragrance  and  life-giving  power  streamed 
through  the  universe  as  on  a  new  creation- 
morning.  And  then — then  came  the  history 
of  the  Church,  and  two  thousand  summers 
are  well-nigh  gone,  and  the  blossoms  of  that 
time  have  not  yet  all  become  fruit.  And  still 
— things  have  become  better,  the  long  way 
has  brought  us  nearer  to  the  goal.  There  is, 
in  spite  of  all  retrogressions,  a  progress  in  the 
history  of  the  Church  also.  Hence  hope  is 
stronger  than  resignation. 

But  to  return  to  the  point :  we  understand 
now  why  dogma    had    to    arise.      The    ex- 


120  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

perienced  religion  had  to  be  intellectually 
formulated,  and  this  need  became  all  the  more 
imperative  the  wilder  and  more  confused  the 
conceptions  were  which  many  entertained. 
In  those  great  struggles  against  the  Gnosis 
which  led  the  Church  to  the  conception  of 
the  canon — we  spoke  of  it  in  the  last  lecture, 
— arose  also  the  thought  of  a  Church  doctrine, 
of  dogma  or  dogmas.  And  once  the  con- 
ception had  been  formed,  it  was  a  historical 
necessity  to  express  it  always  more  precisely  and 
to  extend  it  to  ever  wider  provinces  of  religion. 

So  arose  dogma  in  the  course  of  a  long 
history,  so  it  grew  to  one  of  the  mightiest 
forces  in  the  life  of  mankind.  We  all  feel  its 
power,  whether  we  understand  or  misunder- 
stand, defend  or  oppose  it. 

Hence  our  consideration  of  Christianity 
would  remain  incomplete  if  we  did  not  en- 
deavour to  attain  to  some  attitude  towards 
dogma.  Our  interest  is  in  this  naturally 
directed  not  to  the  dogmas  of  other  Churches, 
but   only  to   the   dogmas   which  hold  in  the 


CHURCH  DOGMA  121 

Protestant  Church,  that  is,  to  the  dogmas 
which  the  Reformation  put  forward  and  to 
those  of  the  ancient  Church  which  it  recog- 
nised and  allowed  to  affect  its  practice. 

The  dogmas  are  not  given  by  God,  they  are 
not  revelation.  Men  have  created  them. 
How  did  dogmas  come  about  ?  In  the 
Church  an  error  arose  which  many  looked  on 
as  dangerous  to  souls,  because  it  contradicted 
Christianity — for  example,  the  mythological 
picture  of  Christ  given  by  Arius  ;  not  as  God, 
nor  as  man,  but  as  a  demi-god,  a  hero,  was 
Christ  represented,  according  to  the  model  of 
heroes  of  old  or  '*sons  of  the  gods."  Dogma 
rejects  error  and  coins  a  formula  to  express 
the  religious  tendency  of  its  originators.  This 
formula  is  constructed  with  the  scientific 
means  at  the  command  of  the  age  in  question. 
Worldly  wise  union-policy  on  the  part  of  the 
spiritual,  or  even  the  will  of  the  temporal, 
rulers  has  not  seldom  a  share  in  the  effect. 
So  it  was  with  the  earliest  dogma,  the  Nicene 
Creed. 


122  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

A  consideration  of  these  thoughts  makes 
the  following  three  points  clear : — 1.  Dogma 
arises  from  a  particular  historical  situation,  it 
is  a  historical  necessity.  This  has  just  been 
dealt  with.  2.  The  agreement  of  later  times 
with  the  dogmas  cannot  have  reference  to  the 
scientific,  technical  terminology  of  their  formu- 
lation, since  it  belongs  to  a  particular  period 
of  scientific  knowledge  and  may  and  will  soon 
be  antiquated.  The  agreement  has  reference 
only  to  the  religious  intention  of  the  dogma 
and  the  rejection  of  a  particular  opposite.  So 
one  can  agree  with  Athanasius  to  this  very 
hour  in  rejecting  the  teaching  of  Arius  and  in 
accepting  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  because  He  is 
the  Redeemer  and  awakes  in  us  a  new  divine 
life.  3.  No  dogma  of  a  Church  can,  as  such, 
in  itself,  and  as  a  matter  of  course  be 
designated  "right"  by  the  members  of  that 
Church  because,  for  example,  the  Church 
has  produced  it  and  upholds  it ;  nor  is  any 
dogma  "  false "  as  a  matter  of  course  be- 
cause it  originated  in  old,  little  ''  enhghtened  " 


CHURCH  DOGMA  123 

times,  and  because  some  theologians  of 
another  time  attack  it.  In  order  to  pass 
judgment  searching  examination  is  necessary, 
and  the  theologically  unschooled  can  join 
only  in  part. 

How  then  ?  Would  it  not  be  best  without 
further  investigation  to  cut  dogma  out  of  re- 
ligion altogether  ?  He  who  judges  so  would 
think  only  of  his  own  subjective  Christianity. 
But  Christianity  lives  in  a  Church  and  cannot 
live  otherwise ;  for  it  is  a  common  possession, 
and  can  subsist  only  in  conceptions,  for  it  is 
proclaimed  by  men  and  accepted  by  think- 
ing men.  We  have  a  catechism  and  hymn- 
book,  we  have  a  liturgy  and  books  of  devotion, 
we  receive  religious  instruction  and  hear 
sermons.  And  in  all  these  ways  there  presses 
into  Christendom  a  vast,  ancient  treasure  of 
Christian  thoughts  and  conceptions,  of  Chris- 
tian formulae  and  sentiments,  and  in  our  own 
day  this  treasure  still  continues  to  press  in. 
The  primary  question  for  the  Christian  is  not 
concerned  with  the  scientific  formulae  of  the 


124  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

dogmas,  but  with  these  quite  practical  things. 
But  these  things  have  received  their  stamp 
under  the  influence,  and  in  virtue  of  the 
power  of  the  dogmas. 

To  Hve  in  the  Church  means  to  stand  under 
the  dogmas,  of  course  in  the  accepted  sense. 
If  we  had  to  begin  the  history  of  Christianity 
now,  it  would  be  worth  while  pondering  for 
a  moment  the  thought  of  a  Christianity 
"without  a  dogma."  But  much  would  not 
be  gained  by  that.  On  account  of  the 
nature  of  the  human  mind,  "  new  dogmas " 
would  immediately  arise.  The  new  dogmas 
would  become  old  dogmas,  and  other  newer 
dogmas  take  their  place  beside  them  or  oppose 
them.  In  a  word,  this  way  would  soon  lead 
into  the  old  track  again.  Dogmas  would  just 
as  little  be  avoided  now,  if  we  had  to  begin 
afresh,  as  in  the  Church  of  fifteen  centuries 
ago.  And,  however  "elastic"  the  dogmas 
were  made,  they  must  of  necessity  soon  appear 
to  many  "  inflexible  "  and  useless.  However 
restricted  they  were,  so  as  to  express  only  what 


CHURCH  DOGMA  125 

was  truly  religious,  the  desire  for  "  reduction  " 
could  not  die  out. 

Dogma,  then,  is  a  historical  necessity.  But 
it  is  not  a  question  of  theoretical  dogma  as 
such  for  the  simple  Christian,  but  of  cate- 
chism, hymn-book,  liturgy,  and  sermon.  And 
looked  at  in  this  way  the  matter  is  seen  to  be 
different  from  what  it  at  first  seemed  to  be. 
The  Christian  has  not  something  unintelligible 
imposed  on  him  as  a  law,  but  lives  himself 
into  given  and  concrete  forms  of  life  and 
thought.  The  soul  has  a  life- content  supplied 
to  it  in  definite  forms  ;  and  in  the  measure 
that  it  grasps  this  life-content,  it  will  on  its 
side  penetrate  the  forms  of  it  independently 
and  spiritualise  and  individualise  them. 

But  here  an  objection  may  be  raised.  How 
can  one  assimilate  "  inflexible  "  dogma,  as  it  is 
always  called  ?  If  the  old  dogmas  are  to  be 
valid,  is  not  all  mental  progress  of  religious 
knowledge  rendered  illusory  ?  And  does 
there  not  of  necessity  follow  from  the  nature 
of    human    knowledge,   precisely   as    regards 


126  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

Christianity,  a  demand  for  progress  in  know- 
ledge ?  Attention  has  already  been  drawn 
to  this  point  in  the  present  lecture. 

But  this  objection  rests  on  a  strange  popular 
misconception.  The  dogmas  are  in  no  way 
"  inflexible."  They  are  tenacious  of  life  pre- 
cisely on  account  of  the  extraordinary  flexi- 
bility and  elasticity  which  is  peculiar  to  them. 
When  it  is  understood  that  the  very  essence 
of  every  dogma  is  to  give  expression  to  a 
religious  tendency,  the  tenacity  and  elasticity 
of  dogma  are  not  to  be  wondered  at.  A 
religious  tendency  comprehends  an  infinite 
mass  of  thoughts  and  feelings  in  itself;  it 
admits  of  the  most  manifold  combinations  and 
the  most  divergent  references  within  this 
structure  of  thought.  So  the  old  expression 
can  remain.  The  more  comprehensive  the 
matter  to  which  it  refers  and  the  hotter  the 
battle  of  minds  out  of  which  it  arises,  the 
stronger  will  be,  first,  its  tendency  to  endure, 
and,  second,  its  capacity  of  making  room  for 
new  knowledge. 


CHURCH  DOGMA  127 

From  this  it  may  be  seen  that  dogma  does 
not  hinder  the  deepening  of  rehgious  know- 
ledge, or  at  least  does  not  need  to  do  so.  It  is 
not  the  fault  of  dogma  when  that  happens,  but 
of  those  who  represent  dogma.  If  they  are 
"  inflexible  "  and  incapable  of  acquiring  new 
views,  then  they  will  make  dogma  "  inflexible  " 
too.  That  that  really  happens  who  can  deny  ? 
But  it  is  a  misrepresentation  of  the  real  state 
of  affairs  when  the  dogmas  are  made  respon- 
sible for  this  ;  that  is,  when  a  false,  unevan- 
gelical,  legal,  literal  interpretation  of  dogma  is 
imposed  by  its  interpreters  and  representatives. 
Here  it  is  not  the  matter  that  is  at  fault,  but 
the  men.  That  the  Protestant  Church  has 
made  progress  in  religious  knowledge  with  its 
dogmas,  and  not  in  spite  of  them,  cannot  be 
denied.  What  Luther  offered  and  what 
Schleiermacher  taught  is  not  yet  exhausted 
by  a  long  way.  The  tasks  which  remain  for 
us  make  us  glad  and  proud,  and  we  think 
dogma  will  not  incapacitate  us  for  their 
fulfilment. 


128  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

Well,  someone  will  say,  that  way  of  look- 
ing at  it  may  be  possible,  but  it  is  not  the 
straight,  royal  road  we  are  shown,  but  the 
crooked,  thorny  road  of  artificial  "  interpreta- 
tion "  and  mental  reservation.  This  argument 
never  fails  to  make  an  impression  on  youthful 
spirits.  One  is  forthwith  ready  to  go  the 
straight  way ;  but  before  one  is  aware,  it  has 
become  very  crooked — the  "  interpretations  " 
from  which  one  fled  return  only  in  far  worse 
form.  Think  of  the  artificially  winding  paths 
into  which  such  a  distinguished  theologian  as 
Ritschl  led  his  readers,  in  which  the  new  is 
made  to  appear  as  old  and  primitive. 

But  we  must  not  be  afraid  of  words,  and 
least  of  all  of  catchwords.  For  what  is  his- 
tory except  the  living  through  and  grasping  of 
ancient  mental  contents,  the  constant  process 
of  assimilating  and  deepening  them  in  manifold 
new  interpretations  and  combinations  ?  Old 
matter  is  pressed  into  new  forms,  and  old 
forms  receive  new  matter.  The  thread  is  spun 
on  in  quiet  development,  but  it  is  not  snapped 


CHURCH  DOGMA  129 

and  knotted  together.  And  it  is  not  different 
as  regards  dogma,  or  more  properly — for  little 
weight  is  here  laid  on  dogma  as  dogma — as 
regards  the  continuance,  the  interpretation,  and 
the  use  of  the  old  forms  and  matter  of  religi- 
ous knowledge.  "  Let  no  one  think  that  he 
has  been  waited  for  as  saviour,"  said  Goethe 
once. 

So  it  is  not  denied  that  there  can  and  should 
be  new  knowledge  in  Christianity.  To  strive 
always  to  deepen  our  grasp  of  the  revelation  of 
God  in  Christ  is,  we  know,  not  only  our  right 
but  our  duty.  But  because  we  have  a  his- 
torical sense  in  thought  and  feeling,  it  is  our 
opinion  that  the  new  knowledge  comes  from 
the  old  matter  and  has  connection  with  the 
old  forms.  Only  so  can  it  become  valuable 
and  lasting  knowledge.  But  that  only  is 
permanent  in  Christianity  which  the  Church 
understands  and  grasps.  And  the  Church 
understands  and  grasps  only  what  is  born  of 
her  spirit  and  grows  out  of  her  conceptions. 

It  is  here  at  last  that  the  conflicts  of  the 


130  TRUTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

Church  in  all  times  and  in  our  time  too  have 
their  root.  If  we  had  only  *'  academic  theo- 
logians," one  could  look  on  at  their  conflict 
quite  calmly,  and  an  understanding  would 
arise  over  the  opposing  "  standpoints  "  sooner, 
perhaps,  than  was  expected.  But  we  have  a 
Church,  and  that  gives  point  to  the  antitheses, 
and  sharpness  to  the  battle  of  opinions.  What 
is  really  of  worth  in  theology  has  in  the  long 
run  practical  or  ecclesiastical  tendencies.  On 
that  account  the  strife  must  be  borne,  but  on 
that  account  the  power,  too,  can  be  kept  fresh 
and  the  spirit  unembittered. 

But  now  we  have  found  the  answer  to  our 
problem.  It  was  not  a  question  as  to  a  kind 
of  philosophy  of  religion  **  without  presupposi- 
tions "  with  which  we  were  concerned,  when 
we  sought  to  define  the  nature  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  What  was  wanted  was  to 
understand  and  interpret  the  revelation  of 
Jesus  Christ,  and  to  carry  that  out  in  con- 
nection with  the  historical  knowledge  of  the 
Church  of  Jesus  Christ, 


CHURCH  DOGMA  ISl 

But  now  that  we  have  endeavoured  to  come 
to  an  understanding  over  the  preUminary  ques- 
tions and  to  prove  the  tjmth  of  the  Christian 
religion,  let  us  deal  with  the  fundamental 
truths  of  the  Christian  religion  in  particular. 
What  could,  up  to  the  present,  be  presupposed 
with  reference  to  them  must  now  be  clarified. 
Thereby  the  rightness  of  the  presuppositions 
will  have  to  justify  itself.  This  point  of  view 
must  not  be  lost  sight  of  in  what  follows. 
The  question  whether  Christianity  is  really 
the  true  religion  we  have  answered  in  the 
affirmative:  the  right  to  do  this  will,  it  is 
hoped,  become  ever  clearer,  the  more  con- 
cretely and  exactly  we  come  to  know  it  in 
particular.  We  shall  begin  in  the  next  lecture 
with  the  question  of  the  Christian  knowledge 
of  God. 


II 

THE  TRUTHS  OF 
THE   CHRISTIAN   RELIGION 


LECTURE  VIII 

The  Revelation  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ 

About  the  half  of  our  way  has  already  been 
traversed.  We  have  treated  of  the  nature 
and  conception  of  religion,  and  of  Christianity 
as  the  absolute  religion.  The  thought  that 
Christianity  is  the  absolute  religion  is,  as  we 
have  seen,  inseparable  from  its  history,  as 
from  its  nature.  So  it  has  been  and  so  it 
will  remain. 

Let  us,  however,  at  the  beginning  of  a  new 
year,  enter  into  the  particular  fundamental 
truths  of  the  Christian  religion.  We  have 
sketched  the  picture  in  outline  and  boundary ; 
now  the  details  have  to  be  filled  in. 

From  the  former  discussions  this,  at  least, 
will  be  clear  to  everyone  :  the  first  truth  which 
has  to  be  dealt  with  is  God. 

135 


136    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

Is  there  a  God  ?  To  have  rehgion  means 
answering  this  question  in  the  affirmative. 
He  who  has  religion  in  any  way  beheves  in 
a  God.  He  can  "prove"  this  faith,  but  he 
can  prove  it  only  to  such  as  do  not  need  the 
proof.  The  proof  is  accessible  and  intelligible 
only  to  believers. 

In  the  main,  at  least,  the  "proofs"  by 
which  it  is  thought  the  existence  of  God  can 
be  established  will  be  known  to  you.  All 
believe  in  a  God,  it  is  said ;  therefore  God 
exists.  It  is  clear  that  this  is  no  proof.  The 
unbelief  of  the  doubting  questioner  has  already 
destroyed  the  force  of  it.  Or,  the  world  must 
have  a  first  cause ;  but  only  he  who  believes 
in  God  will  name  this  cause  God.  Or,  the 
ends  of  the  world  are  comprised  in  one  supreme 
end :  God  has  ordained  this  supreme  end, 
and,  with  it,  the  whole  order  of  ends.  That, 
too,  is  a  good  thought ;  but  yet  it  is  a  proof 
of  the  existence  of  God  only  for  him  who  is 
in  some  way  convinced  of  the  existence  of 
God  before.     Within   the   sphere   of  religion 


REVELATION  OF  GOD  IN  JESUS  CHRIST   187 

the  proofs  are  superfluous  ;  beyond  that  sphere 
they  do  not  take  effect. 

So  they  may  be  left  aside.  The  question 
on  which  all  depends  is  this :  How  do  I  come 
to  the  conviction  of  the  existence  of  God  ? 
or,  better  expressed,  How  do  I  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  God  ?  The  question  for  us  is 
not  as  to  a  general  philosophic  knowledge, 
but  as  to  the  religious  knowledge  in  the 
Christian  religion. 

All  knowledge  rests  on  experience  and 
perception.  Now  a  living  spiritual  being  is 
experienced  in  the  effects  that  are  produced 
by  it,  through  which  it  reveals  to  us  its  ex- 
istence and  nature.  These  are  known  through 
perception  of  the  effects. 

Two  points  are  contained  in  this.  A  know- 
ledge of  God  is  subject  to  the  conditions : — 

(1)  That  God  reveals  Himself,  that  is,  that 
He   works,  or  lets   Himself  be   experienced. 

(2)  To  experience  these  effects  one  must 
open  oneself  to  them  and  not  put  them  aside, 
but,  as  far  as  possible,  let  them  have  free  play. 


138    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

In  public  meetings,  when  the  proceedings  are 
Uvely,  the  cry,  "No  interruptions,"  can  often 
be  heard.  With  the  revelation  of  God,  too, 
this  cry  would  be  only  too  often  applicable. 

Thus  a  knowledge  of  God  presupposes  a 
revelation  of  God.  By  revelation  is  not  to 
be  understood  the  disclosure  of  a  definite  sum 
of  doctrines  or  dogmas.  The  doctrines  arise 
only  when  the  revelation  is  there,  and  is  made 
the  object  of  reflection.  They  are  not  the 
revelation,  but  follow  as  a  consequence  of  the 
revelation.  The  only  point  is  that  the  living 
God  works.  God's  doings  are  His  revelation. 
These  doings  of  God  were  experienced  once 
for  the  first  time  by  definite  men,  but  they 
are  also  continually  experienced  by  many, 
who  confirm  what  those  men  have  said  of  the 
revelation.  Consequently  there  is  only  one 
revelation,  but  two  forms  of  experiencing 
revelation,  the  first  experiencing  of  the  effects 
of  God's  operation — often  accompanied,  in 
conformity  with  nature,  by  violent  states  of 
psychical   and   physical   excitement — and  the 


REVELATION  OF  GOD  IN  JESUS  CHRIST  139 

repetition  of  these  experiences.     It  is  usual  to 
call  only  the  first  revelation. 

We  are  Christians.  That  means  we  accept 
the  revelation  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
revelation  of  God,  which  we,  or  the  Christian 
Church  as  a  whole,  receive  from  Christ  and 
experience  through  Christ.  Christ  is  the 
revelation  of  God,  or  He  is  the  living  "Word" 
in  whom  God  makes  His  nature  manifest  to 
men.  But  this  formula  is  not  sufficient.  It 
might  be  misconstrued  as  if  Christ  were  only 
the  Teacher  of  mankind,  a  kind  of  Christian 
Socrates,  and  so  the  conception  of  revelation 
which  we  have  formed  would  be  curtailed. 
Not  only  are  God's  thoughts  declared  and 
expounded  by  Christ,  but  God's  will  and 
working  are  carried  out  through  Him.  As 
He  is  the  Word  of  God,  so  also  is  He  God's 
working  and  God's  action.  '*The  Mouth  of 
God"  He  was  called  by  a  Church  Father: 
one  might  just  as  well  talk  of  the  Hand  of 
God.  Christ's  thoughts  are  God's  thoughts 
and   His  words  are  God's  words.     His  heart 


140    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

and  His  dealings  reveal  God's  mind  and 
God's  work. 

But  it  may  be  objected  that,  as  the  world 
is  created  by  God  and  is  His  work,  nature, 
with  the  splendour  of  its  phenomena  and 
the  impressiveness  of  its  events,  should  be  a 
worthier,  more  comprehensive  revelation  of 
God  than  Jesus ;  or,  again,  if  God  guides  the 
history  of  mankind,  the  whole  of  the  spiritual 
produce  of  the  historical  evolution  of  mankind 
should  afford  deeper  insight  into  the  nature  of 
God  than  the  one  human  life  of  Christ. 

These  objections  seem  very  serious,  but, 
on  careful  consideration,  are  found  not  to  be 
of  much  weight.  Certainly  nature  speaks, 
but  its  language  is  understood  in  a  religious 
sense  only  by  him  who  is  in  possession 
of  the  thought  of  God,  and  can,  through 
the  music  of  this  thought,  resolve  the  dis- 
cords in  the  contemplation  of  nature  into 
harmonies.  The  mirror  of  nature  has  re- 
flected every  image  of  Deity,  Moloch  not 
less    than    Jahve. — Or    the    total    of    man's 


REVELATION  OF  GOD  IN  JESUS  CHRIST   141 

evolution !  Certainly,  if  it  is  a  question  of 
historical  method,  of  the  understanding  of  the 
laws  of  nature,  of  the  technique  of  mastering 
the  world,  we  have  advanced  beyond  Christ. 
Our  idea  of  the  world  is  richer  and  our  know- 
ledge of  the  world  more  exact  than  it  was  in 
the  time  of  Christ  and  the  Apostles.  That  is 
evident.  But  all  that  does  not  lead  us  one 
step  nearer  knowledge  of  God.  It  touches 
the  shell,  but  not  the  kernel.  For  the  under- 
standing of  the  Spirit  who  guides  all  things, 
and  gives  life,  support,  meaning,  and  goal,  we 
know  nothing  better,  higher,  and  more  satis- 
fying even  at  the  present  day  than  what  we 
can  listen  to  from  the  lips  of  Jesus,  as  we  lean 
on  the  breast  of  the  Son  of  Man. 

This  judgment  is  not  to  be  explained  or 
excused  as  a  Christian  way  of  speaking  arising 
out  of  the  fulness  of  the  individual's  conviction. 
It  gives  expression  to  a  sober  observation. 
The  authority  of  the  living  God,  His  good  and 
gracious  will,  the  end  that  He  sets  before  us, 
the  moral  work,  the  humanity  and  merciful- 


142    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

ness  of  feeling,  the  best  that  even  the  cultured 
nations  of  our  day  know  of  these  things,  comes 
from  Jesus  Christ.  He  has  shown  mankind 
the  divine  and  lived  it  as  our  example.  The 
manifold  remodellings  and  abridgments  taken 
in  hand  on  the  thoughts  of  Jesus  still  prove, 
on  maturer  consideration,  to  be  either  simple 
expositions  and  applications,  which  bring 
nothing  intrinsically  *'new" — thhik  of  our 
humane  institutions  and  of  the  manifold  forms 
of  the  exercise  of  charity — or  degenerations, 
which  represent  not  progress  but  only  regress. 
To  understand  this,  one  must,  to  be  sure, 
be  sufficiently  educated  so  as  not  to  cling 
to  the  externalities  of  the  words  of  Jesus, 
and  to  be  able  to  distinguish  the  matter  and 
the  forms. 

So  now  we  can  say  Christendom  is  justified 
even  at  the  present  day  in  forming  its  idea  of 
God  from  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  so  truly.  As 
once  in  the  home  life  it  was  "  Jesus  "  in  whom 
the  experience  of  the  divine  dawned  upon  us, 
so   continually    in    the    scripture    lessons    in 


REVELATION  OF  GOD  IN  JESUS  CHRIST   143 

Church  are  God,  His  nature  and  His  working, 
disclosed  to  us  in  the  discourses  and  miracles 
of  Jesus.  "  He  that  hath  seen  Me  hath  seen 
the  Father,"  says  Christ. 

Now  we  are  sufficiently  prepared  to  raise 
the  question.  What  do  we  learn,  then,  about 
God  from  the  contemplation  of  Jesus  Christ  ? 
This  question  takes  us  straight  to  the  heart  of 
the  matter.  Later  on,  Christ's  person  must 
be  more  particularly  dealt  with  :  a  few  remarks 
will  suffice  here. 

The  disposition  and  working  of  Jesus  Christ 
are  characterised  by  three  things.  "  My 
Father  worketh  even  until  now,  and  I  work." 
Christ  is  restlessly  active,  and  His  activity  is 
uninterruptedly  devoted  to  the  salvation  or 
the  sovereignty  over  and  redemption  of  man- 
kind. We  see  the  Teacher  who  never  tires 
in  making  hearts  sensible  of  God's  authority 
by  word  and  deed.  We  think  of  the  Good 
Physician  who  without  resting  continues  His 
help  till  deep  in  the  night,  and  in  giving  help 
in  bodily  need  never  forgets  to  minister  to  the 


144    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

soul  as  well.  We  contemplate  the  Lord  as  He 
treads  the  path  of  death,  steadfast  and  sure, 
because  it  is  evident  to  Him  that  it  is  necessary 
for  the  salvation  of  mankind.  This  disposition 
and  this  v^orking  are  the  first  point.  It  is 
mercifulness  and  love.  To  make  men  strong 
and  happy,  healthy  and  capable,  to  give  them 
joy,  contentment,  humility,  patience,  steadfast- 
ness, obedience,  and  purpose  in  life — that  w^as 
Christ's  disposition.  His  working  and  His  life. 
This  leads  us  to  the  second  point.  He  is 
not  of  the  world  and  He  does  not  serve  the 
world :  He  feels  Himself  independent  of  the 
limits  which  it  sets.  He  fears  not  its  blame 
and  seeks  not  its  praise.  He  is  not  of  worldly 
nature  and  worldly  character,  but  He  is  holy. 
The  modern  ambiguity  in  the  meaning  of  this 
word  must  be  got  rid  of  in  order  to  apply  it 
to  Jesus.  In  the  forcible  original  signification 
holiness  denotes  exaltedness  over  the  world. 
Holy  is  he  whom  the  power  of  the  world  does 
not  outwardly  move  and  whom  its  nature  does 
not  inwardly  determine. — This  brings  us  to  a 


REVELATION  OF  GOD  IN  JESUS  CHRIST   145 

third  point.  Jesus'  holy  will  is  almighty, 
Christ  makes  men's  hearts  subject  to  Himself, 
and  He  rules  over  the  order  of  nature.  He  is 
the  Lord  and  He  is  marvellous.  That  belongs 
to  His  nature  :  it  is  not  something  that  can 
be  added  or  be  wanting.  He,  and  He  alone, 
wins  from  the  hearts  of  men  the  faith  which 
remains  steadfast  in  need  and  death.  Legions 
of  angels  stand  at  His  service.  What  He  has 
now  begun  He  will  complete ;  falling  stars 
and  melting  elements  will  then  lie  in  His  path. 
He  is  Lord  of  the  hearts  of  men  and  of  the 
world-order. 

To  gather  these  three  points  together : 
Jesus'  disposition  and  Jesus'  will,  as  He  be- 
comes manifest  in  His  working  in  word  and 
deed,  is  holy,  almighty  love-energy.  He  is 
the  highest  authority  of  mankind,  which 
works  faith  in  the  heart,  and  He  gives  and 
realises  the  supreme  end  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  which  awakens  love  in  the  soul. 

Therewith  is  Christ's  nature  known.     This 

is  at  the  same  time  knowledge  of  God.     The 

10 


146    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

God  who  is  revealed  to  us  in  Christ  is  holy, 
almighty  love-will. 

Yet  the  question  before  us  is  not  thereby 
answered.  Whatever  position  be  taken  up 
with  regard  to  the  union  of  the  divine  and 
human  in  Christ,  this  much  is  clear,  that  the 
works  of  Christ  of  which  we  have  spoken  were 
always  at  the  same  time  human  works  which 
happened  within  the  limits  of  space  and  time. 
He  grew  tired  through  His  constant  work. 
He  esteemed  the  world  and  death  as  noth- 
ing, yet  experienced  their  power  and  their 
terrors.  His  might  was  boundless,  yet  He  was 
held  by  the  limits  of  arrest  and  cross,  nails 
and  scourging.  Certainly  He  overcame  these 
limits.  In  nothing  is  the  divine  in  Christ  so 
deeply  felt  as  in  this  victory  in  defeat.  But 
still  the  limits  were  there.  To  form  a  right 
conception  of  God  we  must  look  away  from 
all  these  limits.  We  must  conceive  a  spiritual 
Volition  that  is  independent  of  human  limita- 
tion ;  in  other  words,  we  must  free  the  nature 
of  Christ  which  we  know  from  the  particular 


REVELATION  OF  GOD  IN  JESUS  CHRIST   147 

and  narrow  human  and  historical  framework 
in  which  it  at  first  revealed  itself.  For  that 
purpose  we  shall  add  nothing  new  and  foreign 
to  the  knowledge  which  we  get  in  Christ,  but 
only  so  express  this  knowledge  as  it  must 
be  expressed  in  reference  to  God  instead  of 
to  the  "  God-man."  The  divine  in  Christ  is 
the  absolute  love-energy.  This  divine  is  ex- 
perienced by  the  Christian  as  all-ruling  and 
all-penetrating,  as  the  absolute  power  over 
the  world.  In  thinking  of  it  so,  he  thinks 
God.  Let  us  follow,  then,  exactly  the  sketch 
we  have  made. 

There  is  a  Power  which  is  spiritual  Will, 
which  rules  the  whole  world.  This  Power  is 
not  world  and  no  part  of  the  world ;  it  is 
not  transient  and  changeable  like  the  world, 
but  holy  and  therein  remaining  like  itself. 
God  remains  the  same  towards  men  in  His 
nature  and  working,  for  He  is  not  world. 
All  that  is  has  been  created  by  this  Power, 
for  it  rules  the  universe  in  an  absolute  manner. 
Everything  that  comes  into  existence  is  guided 


148    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

by  it.     Everything  is  of  this  Power  and  exists 
through   it   and    has    its    goal    in    it.      This 
spiritual  Will  is  God,  the  Lord  of  the  world. 
He  created  the  world  and  gave  it  the  laws  of 
its  stability  ;  He   rules   in  the  events  of  this 
world.     He  created  man  what  he  is,  and  He 
makes  him  what  he  becomes.     He  gave  man 
the  Spirit,  and  He  leads  him  on  to  the  height 
of  the  spiritual  life.     The  omnipotence  of  God 
asserts  not  only  "  that  He  can  make  all  things," 
but  much  rather  that  He  does  make  all  things. 
We  observe  the  iron  laws  of  the  evolution 
of  the  world  and  wonder  at  the  free  develop- 
ment of  the  spirit  of  man,  which  in  a  slow 
process  of  evolution  advances  to  the  master- 
ing of  the  existence  of  the  world  and  to  the 
experiencing   of    ever   deeper    meanings    and 
ever  richer  ends  of  existence.     But  all  this — 
whether  it  be   the  product  of  natural  forces 
or  the  result  of  the  struggle   between  mani- 
fold  ideals    and   free   strivings,   is   ultimately 
nothing  else  than  the  work  of  the  Lord  of  the 
world.     The  order  of  nature  does  not  stand 


REVELATION  OF  GOD  IN  JESUS  CHRIST   149 

against  Him  as  an  enemy,  but  represents  the 
columns  and  chains  which  His  power  builds 
in  the  world.  The  progress  of  the  spirit  of 
man  does  not  shake  His  throne,  but  is  the 
accomplishment  of  the  Will  that  rules  on  that 
throne.  The  spiritual  freedom  which  man 
reaches  is  no  stolen  fire,  but  the  gracious  gift 
of  the  light  from  above.  What  is,  is  through 
God's  will ;  what  comes  to  be  is  through  His 
will,  and  what  happens  serves  therefore  His 
ends.  There  is  no  motion  of  nature  and  no 
movement  of  the  soul  which  God  does  not 
work.  Where  effects  are,  there  is  He  ;  where 
life  is,  there  is  the  living  God.  "Of  Him  and 
through  Him  and  to  Him  are  all  things,"  says 
the  Apostle  Paul.  These  are  not  high-flying 
paradoxes,  but  expressions  of  the  soul  that  has 
found  its  Lord. 

The  world  is  not  "  godless " ;  nature  and 
history  are  not  deprived  of  the  Divine.  This 
world  is  not  a  machine  which  moves  of  itself 
when  once  set  in  motion ;  it  is  a  living  thing, 
and  lives  from  God  and  through  God.     But 


150    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

God  is  never  world,  for  He  is  the  holy 
God. 

All  that  is,  however,  only  one  side  of  the 
Christian  faith  in  God.  The  great  tree  of  the 
world  does  not  exist  to  grow  and  bear  leaves ; 
it  serves  an  end,  namely,  to  bring  eternal  fruits 
to  maturity.  The  temporal  evolution  serves  an 
eternal  end,  the  transient  serves  a  permanent. 
And  this  permanent  is  the  blessedness,  the 
felicity,  the  spiritual  exaltation  and  freeing  of 
mankind.  The  almighty  and  holy  Will  is  at 
the  same  time  Love- will. 

What  does  that  mean  ?  The  Power  which 
moves  the  world  wills  our  salvation.  Consider 
now  what  that  signifies.  The  All-operative 
is  the  Salvation- working.  Then  the  movement 
of  the  world  exists  for  the  sake  of  man  ;  it 
serves  the  formation  of  each  individual  life — 
takes  place  for  its  blessedness.  The  almighty 
Power  is  at  the  same  time  Love-power. 
The  highest  all-ruling  law  of  existence  is  holy 
Love.  The  deepest  and  strongest  is  operative 
Love. 


REVELATION  OF  GOD  IN  JESUS  CHRIST   151 

He  who  experiences  God  knows  Him  so. 
The  knowledge  of  God  which  the  Christian 
wins  in  Hfe  always  comprehends  these  three 
points  in  itself.  He  traces  a  spiritual  Will 
which  is  holy  and  mighty  to  move  all  things  ; 
and  he  experiences  that  this  Will,  in  operating 
on  the  soul,  elevates,  sanctifies,  and  purifies  it, 
that  it  causes  life  and  blessedness.  He  who 
effects  all  things  makes  all  things  work  for  my 
blessedness,  to  the  saving  of  my  soul. 

That  is  the  Christian  faith  in  God.  Pure 
theoretical  observation  will  deduce  from  this 
being  of  God  special  forms  of  existence ;  it 
will  speak  of  the  personality  and  of  the  absolute- 
ness of  God.  That  has  for  us  no  further  inter- 
est, for  it  is  a  matter  of  course  that  we  must 
think  of  the  all-operative  Spirit  as  boundless, 
and  the  loving  All-spirit,  as  we  understand  it, 
as  personal.  It  should  be  no  longer  necessary 
to  ward  off  the  common  misunderstanding  of 
thinking  that  with  personality  must  be  accepted 
at  the  same  time  some  kind  of  physical  or- 
ganisation for  God,  much  less  that  He  has  a 


152    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

corporeality.  Even  the  human  spiritual  per- 
sonality is  not  one  with  the  organs  and  means 
through  which  it  exhibits  itself. 

Two  questions  have  still  to  be  attended  to. 
Is  the  assertion  that  God's  working  is  the 
working  of  love  tenable  ?  And,  in  face  of 
human  unbelief,  is  the  thought  that  God 
is  all-operative  to  be  maintained  ?  The 
questions  are  intimately  connected  together. 
The  fact  that  not  all  men  believe — that  is, 
come  to  experience  God — seems  to  destroy 
the  force  of  the  judgment  that  God  effects  all 
things,  as  also  to  stagger  the  conviction  that 
God  guides  all  things  for  the  salvation  of  men. 
But  if  the  matter  is  looked  at  in  this  way,  there 
is  danger  of  leaving  the  ground  of  religious 
knowledge,  where  the  question  is  only  as  to 
what  the  believer  experiences  and  feels.  As 
to  unbelievers  and  for  what  their  life  serves,  the 
believer  can  make  only  indirect  statements  ;  for 
in  his  experience,  this  condition  is  only  a  stage 
which  he  goes  through,  something  which  must 
be  overcome.     Nevertheless,  we  cannot  avoid 


REVELATION  OF  GOD  IN  JESUS  CHRIST    153 

these  questions ;  for  the  fact  that  unbeHef 
exists  is  a  difficulty  in  the  way  of  faith — it 
seems  simply  to  destroy  the  force  of  judgments 
of  faith. 

Now  one  thing  is  at  any  rate  clear :  God's 
sovereignty  and  the  experiencing  of  this 
sovereignty  are  two  different  things.  The 
fact  that  many  do  not  feel  this  sovereignty, 
and  hence  deny  it,  does  not  suspend  the 
sovereignty  and  does  not  alter  the  judgment 
as  to  its  existence  which  the  believer  has 
formed.  But  the  blessedness  of  man  depends 
on  faith  as  the  experiencing  of  the  sovereignty 
of  God.  So  the  real  question  at  stake  is. 
Why  do  not  all  come  to  faith  and  thereby  to 
blessedness  ? 

This  question,  however,  can  be  treated  only 
after  man  has  been  considered  and  the  possible 
and  real  relations  which  he  bears  to  the  sove- 
reignty of  God.  This,  then,  is  the  question 
that  must  be  dealt  with  first. 


LECTURE   IX 

Man  Free  and  God  All-operative 

We  have  considered  the  Christian  thought  of 
God.  God  is  personal  spirit,  and  as  such 
almighty  love-energy.  His  power  must  be 
thought  of  as  effecting  all  things ;  His  love 
makes  all  things  work  together  for  the  salva- 
tion of  believers. 

Here  the  problem  confronts  us,  Why  do 
not  all  believe,  if  God  is  all-operative  love? 
The  Christian  looks  on  unbelief  as  sin  and 
guilt.  So  the  problem  resolves  itself  into  this, 
Why  is  sin  possible  ? 

To  find  an  answer  for  this  we  must  go  a 
little  further  back  and  endeavour  to  come  to 
an  understanding  as  to  the  nature  of  man. 

As  starting-point  we  may  take  the   obser- 

154 


MAN  FREE  AND  GOD  ALL-OPERATIVE    155 

vation  which  everybody  makes  with  regard 
to  his  nature  and  species.  Now,  everyone 
feels  himself  first  of  all  simply  as  a  being 
belonging  to  nature.  He  is  a  part  of  the 
world,  and  under  its  laws  and  ordinances. 
He  grows  and  becomes  old,  he  develops 
and  decays.  The  forces  of  nature  have 
power  over  him ;  infection  and  bacilli,  the 
occurrences  of  nature,  and  the  physical 
changes  of  his  organism  tell  upon  him  and 
change  him.  He  is  subject  in  this  manner 
as  a  whole  to  the  law  of  "  must "  or  natural 
law,  for  nature  always  uses  "  must "  as 
auxiliary  in  its  great  conjugation.  No  part 
of  human  nature  is  exempt  from  it.  Thought 
and  will,  too,  or  the  mental  life,  is  subject  to 
the  necessity  of  nature.  As  man  must  think 
and  will — being  man  he  cannot  do  otherwise — 
so  he  must  follow  definite  laws  in  his  thinking 
and  willing.  Logic  is  the  natural  law  of  the 
mind.  It  takes  effect,  too,  in  the  most  strange 
fancies  and  in  the  most  individual  moods. 
There  is  method    even  in  madness,  and  the 


156    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

"  car  tel  est  mon  plaisir  "  is  subject  to  the  laws 
of  nature. 

But  another  point  of  view  takes  its  place  along- 
side this  one — one  that  is  also  unavoidable  and 
given  in  human  nature.  Man  knows  and  feels 
himself  free,  self-determining  personality.  He 
himself  decides  for  the  one  thing  or  the  other 
offered  by  the  possibilities  of  life,  he  himself 
chooses  from  among  the  possible  ends,  and  he 
determines  himself  to  one  kind  of  action  or 
another.  Thought  and  will  imply  self-determin- 
ation. Human  thought  and  will  differentiate 
between  the  inevitable  "must"  and  the  ** ought," 
which  one  can  comply  with  only  of  one's  own 
free  will.  But  the  state  of  things  is  not  so  as 
if  thereby  man  were  composed  of  two  sub- 
stantially different  parts.  He  himself  as  a 
whole  is  on  the  one  side  nature,  and  as  nature 
conditioned  by  nature ;  and  on  the  other  free, 
and  as  free  self-determining.  The  whole  man 
is  in  the  first  sense  the  image  of  the  world,  and 
in  the  last  the  image  of  God. 

It  is   possible  to   deny   the    last,   at    least 


MAN  FREE  AND  GOD  ALL-OPERATIVE    157 

theoretically,  especially  in  pointing  to  the 
natural  constitution  of  man  by  which  his  power 
of  action  and  his  nature  are  conditioned. 
Each  becomes  what  his  nature  has  fitted 
him  for;  no  one  can  win  genius  or  talent 
for  himself.  There  are  born  saints  and 
**  born  criminals."  The  same  results  may  be 
deduced  by  starting  from  the  thought  that 
God  is  all-operative.  God  has  determined 
some  to  this,  others  to  that.  God  makes  some 
"  vessels  of  wrath,"  others  "  vessels  of  mercy," 
as  Paul  says.  If  the  goal  is  determined  from 
eternity,  it  seems  the  ways  to  the  goal  are  also 
necessary. 

So  in  the  one  way  or  in  the  other,  freedom 
or  self-determination  seems  to  be  a  mere 
illusion  through  which  man  deceives  himself 
as  to  his  slavery.  He  dreams  in  his  prison 
that  he  is  a  king  with  crown  and  sceptre,  with 
sovereignty  and  kingdom.  That  charms  him 
for  a  little  time,  but  the  waking  hour  brings 
tears. 

So  it  is  said,  and  these  thoughts  are  expanded 


158    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

into  the  world-philosophy  called  Determinism, 
which  may  be  either  materialistic  or  religious. 
But  these  theories  always  shatter  on  facts  of 
the  inward  life  which  each  one  experiences, 
and  through  which  each,  even  the  incarnate 
determinist,  lets  his  actions  be  determined. 
He  reflects  and  considers,  reproaches  himself 
for  evil  deeds  and  is  proud  of  his  good  actions. 
He  resolves  to  do  better  next  time.  He  gives 
advice  and  commands  to  others,  instructs  and 
warns,  educates  his  children  and  demands  the 
obedience  of  their  will,  which  he  rewards,  while 
he  punishes  disobedience.  If  life  be  deprived 
of  the  idea  of  freedom,  nine-tenths  of  our 
action  and  thought  is  absurd  and  meaningless. 
The  best  that  we  do  and  think  reckons  with 
freedom  in  ourselves  and  in  others. 

To  betake  oneself,  in  view  of  these  facts,  to 
the  hypothesis  of  Indeterminism,  namely,  that 
the  will  is  not  determined  by  anything  except 
its  own  volition,  would  be  to  get  from  bad  to 
worse.  The  assertion  that  our  will  is  deter- 
mined by  nothing,  not  only  destroys  all  religion, 


MAN  FREE  AND  GOD  ALL-OPERATIVE    159 

but  contradicts  as  well  the  simplest  observa- 
tions which  may  be  made  on  the  influence  of 
rational  deliberation  or  of  good  principles  on 
the  will,  on  the  power  of  habits  or  on  the 
effects  of  racial  genius,  of  the  spirit  of  the 
time,  etc.,  on  whole  groups  of  mankind. 

Both  these  "solutions"  explain  nothing. 
They  go  to  wreck  on  facts.  Each  standpoint 
destroys  its  own  force  in  demonstrating  the 
right  of  the  other.  It  is  not  our  task  here  to 
undertake  to  clarify  one  of  the  most  difficult 
problems  of  philosophy  with  the  means  of 
philosophy.  We  must  maintain  the  standpoint 
of  Christian  observation.  It  gives  us  at  once 
two  moments ; — 1.  God  is  all-operative.  He 
creates  and  uses  men  as  His  organs.  He  gives 
them  the  power  to  act  and  He  brings  about 
the  success  as  also  the  scene  of  operations  and 
the  end  in  view.  Every  conception  of  God 
which  does  not  contain  this  is  of  inferior  value 
and  unchristian  ;  it  sinks  to  the  level  of  the 
naturalistic  view  which  degrades  the  gods  to 
parts  of  the  world,  to  purely  relative  powers. 


160    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

God  is  no  more  the  Almighty  Lord  of  the 
world,  if  He  lets  men  do  as  they  will,  looks 
calmly  on,  and  throws  hindrances  in  the  way 
only  here  and  there  when  things  grow  too 
bad,  or,  on  the  other  hand,  when  it  comes  to 
extremity,  takes  the  obstacles  out  of  their  way. 
Similes  of  strong  or  weak  men,  of  princes  or 
lords,  do  not  help  us  over  the  difficulty. 
2.  Man  never  acts  otherwise  than  with  the 
consciousness  that  he  is  acting  of  his  own 
accord.  The  consciousness  of  freedom  is  in- 
separable from  his  inner  life.  If  everything  is 
given  by  God,  so  is  also  this  consciousness  of 
freedom  and  responsibility  to  be  looked  upon 
as  God's  gift,  and  therewith  as  a  reality  in  the 
equipment  of  men. 

Both  these  facts  must  be  maintained,  whether 
they  can  be  *'  harmonised  "  or  not.  We  may 
not  fly  the  flag  of  the  Divine  power  at  half- 
mast,  nor  make  the  consciousness  of  freedom 
a  shadow. 

It  may  be  shown  first  of  all  that  both  are  a 
necessity  for  man.     So  far  as  man  looks  on  the 


MAN  FREE  AND  GOD  ALL-OPERATIVE    161 

cosmic  system  and  himself  from  the  point  of 
view  of  cause  (causality),  he  must  think  of 
himself  and  his  life  and  nature  as  caused  and 
effected,  as  conditioned  and  dependent  on  the 
great  structure  of  causes  before  him — finally 
on  God.  He  is  effected  and  therefore  depen- 
dent. The  more  powerfully  he  experiences 
the  living  God,  the  more  comprehensive  and 
universal  will  this  dependence  show  itself  to 
him :  "  What  hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not 
receive  ? "  The  heroes  in  the  history  of  religion 
— Paul,  Augustine,  Luther — were  determinists 
in  this  sense. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  man  feels  himself 
not  only  as  end-point  of  what  happens,  but 
also  as  starting-point.  He  seeks  out  and  sets 
aims  before  himself,  and  shapes  what  is  suit- 
able in  the  surrounding  existence  to  means  for 
these  ends.  That  he  does  himself ;  he  makes 
things  far  or  near,  real  or  yet  to  be  realised, 
his  end;  he  tries  and  chooses  among  means, 
takes  those  that  lie  ready,  and  extorts  from 

nature  those  that  are  not  yet  to  hand.     In 

11 


162    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

choosing  an  end,  man  raises  himself  above  the 
mechanical  order  of  nature.  He  makes  free 
use  of  the  causal  order  to  produce  a  final 
order.  The  mind  that  wills  changes  the 
"must"  around  it  into  an  "ought."  It 
makes  free  use  of  what  necessarily  happens  for 
its  own  end. 

This  is  no  imaginary  sovereignty.  Man 
really  acts  so  ;  and  the  individual  feels  himself 
thereby  a  member  of  a  larger  community  of 
minds  which  act  in  the  same  way  and  have  the 
same  experience,  and  precisety  in  this  con- 
sciousness and  in  this  action  does  he  reach  the 
summit  of  his  existence.  And  the  same  is 
true  of  mankind  as  a  whole  ;  for  what  else  is 
all  real  culture  finally — I  am  not  thinking  of 
this  or  that  petty  invention,  of  the  nervous 
pseudo- culture  —  than  the  victory  of  free- 
dom over  necessity,  than  the  mastering  of 
the  causal  order  to  further  a  final  order? 
Culture  is  there,  where  the  knowledge  of  the 
necessity  in  nature  increases  the  power  of 
freedom,  where  Tiamat,  the  primeval  world- 


MAN  FREE  AND  GOD  ALL-OPERATIVE    163 

dragon  of  the  natural  forces,  is  conquered  by 
Marduk,  the  light-god  of  the  spirit  that  wills. 

The  causal  order  with  its  necessity  is  not 
thereby  destroyed,  but  continues  to  exist. 
But  the  final  order  with  its  freedom  slides 
itself  into  it  and  unites  itself  with  it.  Now 
we  understand  how  the  mind  experiences  the 
latter  as  well  as  the  former  on  itself  Hence 
the  latter  as  well  as  the  former  is  reality  to  it. 
Neither  can  contest  the  existence  of  the  other, 
but  neither  is  more  certain  than  the  other. 
For  both  exist,  of  course,  only  in  so  far  as  the 
mind  feels  them,  in  so  far  as  it  experiences 
their  operative  power  actively  and  passively. 
And  it  is  certain  that  the  mind  experiences 
necessity  neither  less  nor  more  than  freedom. 
Then  both  are  real  for  us  and  our  thought. 

And  this  result  is  confirmed  when  we  place 
ourselves  in  the  more  precise  connection  of  the 
Christian  religion.  It  is  the  experience  of  the 
Christian,  as  we  have  seen,  that  the  operative 
forces  of  the  world  are  caused  by  God.  The 
conditionality  of  his  life  is  for  him  always  at  the 


164    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

same  time  dependence  on  God.  But  thereby 
this  conditionality  becomes  a  spiritual  one. 
Personal  Spirit  effects  and  determines  his  life. 
In  this  way  the  innermost  life  and  nature  of  the 
Christian  are  raised  into  the  sphere  of  the  purely 
spiritual.  The  absolute  Spirit  exercises  His 
sovereignty  over  us  and  thereby  directs  our 
life  to  the  purely  spiritual  goal  of  the  Kingdom 
of  God. 

These  thoughts  confirm  above  all  the  feeling 
of  dependence,  ay,  intensify  it  to  the  very 
utmost.  But  they  elucidate  and  strengthen  at 
the  same  time  the  consciousness  of  freedom. 
The  more  exalted  above  what  is  nearest  and 
what  is  material  the  aims  of  man  are,  the  more 
powerful  is  his  feeling  of  freedom  over  against 
the  world.  When  man  makes  the  absolute 
goal  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  his  own,  the 
feeling  of  freedom  over  the  system  of  causes 
of  the  world  naturally  reaches  its  highest  pitch. 
Thus  Christianity  intensifies  the  consciousness 
of  freedom.  But  in  addition  to  this  the  Chris- 
tian conception  so  fashions  the  consciousness 


MAN  FREE  AND  GOD  ALL-OPERATIVE    165 

of  dependence  that  it  can  exist  together  with 
the  feehng  of  freedom.  For  dependence  in 
rehgion  is  conditioned  by  a  spiritual  Person 
and  comes  to  our  consciousness  in  the  forms 
of  intercourse  with  the  Person.  But  the 
dependence  of  spiritual  relationship  represents 
itself  to  us  psychologically  as  something  willed 
and  accepted  by  ourselves.  So  man  can 
experience  the  absolute  influences  of  God 
along  with  the  consciousness  of  freedom. 

But  in  this  way  the  Christian  religion 
changes  the  mechanical  causal  order  into  a 
spiritual  causal  order,  or  dependence  on 
nature  into  dependence  on  God,  and  only 
through  the  latter  does  it  make  the  former 
bearable  to  the  spirit  of  man.  And  Christian 
morality  brings  the  consciousness  of  freedom 
to  the  highest  point  in  making  the  spirit  the 
bearer  of  and  fellow-worker  in  an  absolute 
teleological  order  which  surpasses  all  and  en- 
compasses heaven  and  earth.  What  was  said 
before  confirms  itself  to  us  here  again.  Chris- 
tianity shows  its   absoluteness  in  intensifying 


166    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

the  spiritual  need  of  man  to  the  utmost  and 
supplying  it  in  fullest  measure.  We  can 
comprehend  now  how  the  great  men  of  Chris- 
tendom— and  not  only  the  great  ones — have 
combined  the  strictest  religious  determinism 
with  the  highest  eagerness  to  accomplish  great 
things  and  the  deepest  feeling  of  freedom.  The 
Apostle  Paul,  who  testified  that  he  had 
"laboured  more  abundantly  than  they  all," 
knew  that  God  "  worketh  in  us  both  to  will 
and  to  work."  And  Luther,  whose  energy 
endured  the  struggle  against  a  world,  testifies : 
"  God  has  led  me  on  like  a  horse  whose  eyes 
are  covered  so  that  it  may  not  see  those  that 
run  towards  it."  "  All  must  happen  in  a  maze 
or  ignorance." 

But  just  as  little  as  the  order  of  nature  is 
destroyed  by  the  consciousness  of  freedom, 
can  the  sovereignty  of  God  be  interrupted 
and  limited.  That  should  be  clear  now.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  God  has  implanted  in  human 
nature  that  consciousness  of  freedom  which 
means  there  is  something  real  in  man  with 


MAN  FREE  AND  GOD  ALL-OPERATIVE    167 

which  and  according  to  which  he  is  in  duty- 
bound  to  reckon  and  act.  The  consciousness 
of  duty,  of  guilt  and  responsibihty,  belongs  to 
man.  He  demands  to  be  judged  accordingly, 
and  has  a  right  thereto.  The  idealism  of 
some  criminalists  and  anthropologists  which 
is  founded  on  materialistic  determinism  will 
not  shake  these  facts.  The  guilty  should 
receive  his  punishment,  for  the  consciousness 
of  guilt  in  him  and  the  consciousness  of  right 
around  him  demand  it.  Man  cannot  do  other 
than  judge  in  this  way,  and  indeed  the  deeper 
his  moral  nature  is  cultivated,  the  clearer  and 
more  distinct  will  this  judgment  be. 

That  should  not  now  seem  any  longer 
enigmatic.  Man  "must":  he  must  execute 
that  whereto  he  is  determined,  and  he  does 
it.  But  no  one  is  compelled  to  live  merely 
in  the  sphere  of  "  must " ;  he  can  feel  an 
"ought"  and  he  can  will.  Not  in  what  he 
does,  but  in  how  he  does  it,  lies  its  worth. 
Whether  he  acts  under  the  pressure  of  a  force, 
which   may  be   more   or   less,  consciously  or 


168    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

unconsciously,  natural,  or  himself  wills,  and, 
what  is  more,  acts  with  complete  self- surrender, 
with  inward  pleasure  and  joy,  is  decisive,  for  it 
is  that  that  either  leaves  his  character  only  on 
a  level  with  nature  or  raises  it  into  the  sphere 
of  spirituality  and  piety.  There  is  a  dead 
faith  and  a  dead  love,  which  come  into 
existence  in  man  in  a  purely  external  way 
without  his  inwardly  and  freely  willing  them  ; 
they  do  not  change  him — they  leave  his  soul 
below,  and  do  not  raise  it  on  to  the  heights. 
And  there  is  a  faith  and  a  love  in  which  what 
is  most  inward  and  tender,  all  the  power  and 
all  the  energy  of  the  soul,  pours  itself  forth 
in  experiencing  God  Himself  and  serving 
Him.  It  is  that  that  makes  the  soul  living. 
Inwardness  makes  man  what  he  is,  and 
inwardness  itself  is  freedom.  That  is  what 
the  hymn  means  : 

"  Constrained  by  the  gentle  power  of  love, 
My  soul,  my  all^  inclines  to  Thee." 

God  effects  all  in  us,  the  outward  and  the 
inward,   the    small   and    the    great,    and   we 


MAN  FREE  AND  GOD  ALL-OPERATIVE    169 

become  what  He  allows  us  to  become,  and 
that  whereto  He  needs  us.  So,  too,  faith  and 
love  come  from  God  into  the  soul.  But  He 
has  so  constituted  us  that  all  that  happens  to 
us  becomes  operative  in  us  somehow  through 
ourselves.  Hence  the  question  is,  how  we 
take  and  give  what  we  must  take  and  give. 
Only  where  the  inward  pleasure  and  joy,  the 
spontaneity  of  complete  devotion,  draws  what 
is  given  and  has  been  stirred  up  within  us 
into  the  heart  of  our  own  nature  are  faith 
and  love  really  present. 

It  should  hardly  be  necessary  to  elucidate 
what  has  been  said  by  means  of  examples. 
A  child  whose  duty  it  is  to  accustom  itself 
to  housekeeping  and  become  the  organ  of 
the  domestic  spirit,  does  so  because  the  power 
of  influence  and  the  force  of  circumstance  are 
so  strong  that  it  simply  must.  But  in  this 
the  child  can  act  either  mechanically  and  un- 
willingly or  cheerfully  and  freely,  and  becomes 
inwardly  poorer  or  richer,  unhappy  or  happy, 
accordingly   through   its   action.     And   every 


170    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

time  which  demands  and  gives  great  things 
finds  many  who  co-operate  in  the  work,  but 
among  them  are  always,  according  to  the  in- 
ward spiritual  condition,  many  Thyrsus-bearers 
and  few  Bacchants,  to  use  the  language  of 
Plato.     "  Many  are  called,  but  few  chosen." 

That  is  the  answer  to  the  question  from  which 
we  started.  We  understand  whence  there  is  un- 
belief in  the  world  in  spite  of  the  love  of  God. 

But  the  objection  may  be  raised  that 
account  has  been  taken  only  of  such  actions 
as  are  good,  but  can  also  be  of  inferior  value, 
while  there  are  other  actions  which  are  mani- 
festly bad,  as  murder  and  adultery.  Is  it  to 
be  maintained  that  these,  too,  are  effected  by 
God  ?  More  particularly  considered,  however, 
this  case  only  leads  back  to  what  has  already 
been  discussed.  That  even  such  actions,  viewed 
purely  as  manifestations  of  power,  go  back 
upon  God  there  can  be  no  doubt.  But  what 
really  makes  them  action  and  gives  them  moral 
character  is  something  different.  It  is  inward 
separation  from  God,  aversion  to  what  is  good, 


MAN  FREE  AND  GOD  ALL-OPERATIVE    171 

unbelief  and  lovelessness.  But  that  the  con- 
nection of  circumstances  and  the  intensifi- 
cation or  limitation  of  incentives  and  impulses 
can  allow  both  outwardly  honourable  and  also 
criminal  activities  to  proceed  from  this  state 
of  the  soul  is  of  course  quite  intelligible. 
The  roots  are  there,  but,  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  soil  and  the  condition  of  the 
surroundings,  differently  formed  stems  can 
grow  out  of  them. 

But  why  the  gardener  planted  the  one 
root  close  to  a  wall  which  obstructs  it,  and 
the  other  where  there  is  plenty  of  open  space 
— who  could  answer  that,  unless  the  gardener 
had  told  him  ?  Or  without  a  figure  :  why  un- 
belief and  lovelessness  here  flame  up  into  the 
fire  of  vice,  and  there  glimmer  and  smoulder  as 
stifled  flames,  we  do  not  know,  for  we  are  not 
able  to  penetrate  the  deepest  connection  in  the 
events  of  this  world,  the  last  hidden  causes 
and  ends  of  the  world-order  and  its  evolution. 

Faith  brightens  our  life  in  shedding  light 
upon  the  first  cause  and  the  final  goal.     But 


in    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

between  these  there  run  manifold  wires  under 
the  ground,  w^hich  we  do  not  see  except  where 
they  go  through  the  house  of  our  own  Hfe. 

We  have  attempted  to  answer  the  question 
how  all-operative  love  and  unbelief  can  exist 
side  by  side.  Here  many  a  question  may  be 
raised.  For  example,  we  might  ask  why 
Christianity  has  come  to  many  nations  so  late, 
or  not  at  all ;  or  one  might  say  much  in 
favour  of  the  view  that  the  question  before 
us  finds  its  solution  still  further  back  in 
the  counsel  of  God.  But  time  fails  us  to 
enter  on  these  investigations,  which  cannot 
be  answered  in  a  few  sentences. 

These  are  great  and  serious  things.  One 
hears  them  only  too  often  treated  in  a  dis- 
position that  is  paltry  and  blended  with 
curiosity,  anxiety,  and  conceit  of  cleverness. 
It  is  from  such  a  disposition  that  the  question 
would  arise  which  someone  put  to  Jesus : 
"  Are  they  few  that  be  saved  ? "  The  answer 
of  Jesus  shows  us  the  right  disposition:  "Strive 
to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate." 


LECTURE   X 

The  Nature  of  Human  Sin 

Nonduvi  consider asti,  quanti  ponderis  sit 
peccatiun:  Thou  hast  not  considered  what 
weight  sin  hath.  This  saying  of  Ansehn  of 
Canterbury  is  appHcable  to  our  reflections  up 
to  the  present.  ^Ve  have  pictured  the  sub- 
limity of  Christianity  and  we  have  been  ab- 
sorbed in  the  almighty  love  of  God.  Now 
the  question  arises :  Is  all  that  attainable 
by  Its  ? 

This  question  may  be  asked  with  reference 
to  the  modern  man  with  his  unbelief  and 
superstition,  with  his  culture  and  the  many- 
sidedness  of  his  interests.  Then  it  means  :  Is 
Christianity  not  too  simple  and  too  insignifi- 
ant  for]us,  or  at  least  a  foreign  flower,  which 

173 


174    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

could  grow  in  the  culture  soil  of  the  old 
world,  but  withers  in  our  fields  ?  We  are 
beyond  this  old  objection,  for  we  have  recog- 
nised that  Christianity  is  so  constituted  that 
it  satisfies  and  can  satisfy  the  need  of  the 
human  soul. 

But  the  question  raised  may  have  still  an- 
other meaning.  Are  we  men,  weak,  narrow  of 
perception,  sinful,  as  we  are  and  from  nature 
cannot  help  being,  are  we  capable  of  the  life 
in  the  Spirit  and  of  the  exaltation  of  soul 
which  Christianity  promises  and  demands  ? 
Strictly  speaking,  this  question  too  has  been 
answered  already  in  the  first  answer. 

That  is  the  question  of  the  greatest  men  in 
the  history  of  the  Church.  Not  of  the  great- 
ness and  glory  of  the  Christian  religion  have 
they  doubted,  but  of  their  own  power  and 
their  own  nature.  Think  on  the  struggles  in 
Augustine's  soul  before  his  conversion ;  think 
on  Luther  in  the  monastery.  There  the  say- 
ing :  "  Unlearned  men  arise  and  take  heaven 
by  force,  and  we  with  our  heartless  erudition 


THE  NATURE  OF  HUMAN  SIN  175 

wallow  with  it  in  flesh  and  blood.  Or  are  we 
ashamed  to  follow  because  others  have  gone 
before,  and  not  ashamed  at  least  not  to  follow?" 
"And  I  became  dead  to  life."  Here  the  de- 
spairing cry  of  a  mortally  wounded  conscience, 
**  My  sin,  my  sin,  my  sin ! "  and  the  fear  of 
being  lost  in  spite  of  all  the  consolations  and 
guarantees  of  the  Church.  In  these  struggles 
of  the  soul  mankind  has  experienced  something 
great.  There  is  only  one  terrible  and  fearful 
thing  in  the  world,  and  that  is  sin ;  and  there 
is  only  one  thing  precious  and  great ;  it  is  not 
the  world  and  it  is  not  of  the  world  ;  it  is  the 
power  of  God  which  becomes  Lord  over  the 
sinner  and  sin. 

Sin  is  the  subject  of  our  present  discussion. 

How  do  we  come  to  the  knowledge  of  sin  ? 
Manifestly  the  general  outlines  which  we  see 
when  we  look  at  the  world  are  not  sufficient. 
It  is  true  there  is  wrung  at  last  from 
the  life  of  the  world,  from  its  striving  and 
yearning,  the  cry  of  despair:  "O  wretched  man 
that  I  am  I  who  shall  deliver  me  ? "     But  this 


176    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

cry  is  drowned  by  the  thousand  voices  that 
praise  the  pleasure  of  the  world,  and  by  the 
loud  bustle  of  the  day,  which  checks  the  last 
reflections.  There  are  lingering  diseases  in 
which  the  patient  feels  himself  relatively  well 
and  is  nevertheless  not  well.  It  is  their 
danger  that  they  conceal  themselves  from  the 
perception  of  the  patient.  Sin  is  such  a 
disease.  Only  he  who  has  recovered  health 
is  sensible  that  he  has  been  ill.  Only  when 
the  blind  man  formerly  saw,  or  recovers 
his  sight,  does  he  comprehend  the  horrors  of 
the  night  that  surrounded  him.  Only  he  who 
experiences  the  higher  life  of  the  Spirit  and 
the  Divine  grace  knows  that  the  lower  life 
drags  us  down  beneath  ourselves  and  holds  us 
there  fast. 

From  that  it  follows  that  only  the  Christian 
can  judge  of  the  state  of  sin.  The  more  in- 
ward and  deep  his  Christianity  is,  the  more 
profound  will  be  his  understanding  of  sin. 
The  general  complaints  about  sin — they  fail 
in  no  age  and  in  no  human  life — do  not  help 


THE  NATURE  OF  HUMAN  SIN  177 

us  to  the  final  understanding  of  sin.  With 
sin  it  is  not  a  question  of  a  more  or  less,  but 
of  the  difference  between  a  life  that  is  death — 
one  does  not  know,  says  Augustine,  whether 
this  life  is  a  dying  life  or  a  living  death — and 
a  life  that  is  life. 

Then  we  may  say,  all  that  makes  the  life  of 
the  Christian  great,  strong,  inward,  free,  and 
happy  is  wanting  in  the  life  of  the  sinner. 
Sin  is  the  contrary  of  what  is  good,  and  that 
the  Christian  knows.  It  has  destroyed  the 
good  in  man  and  always  continues  to  destroy 
it,  for  it  is  the  annihilation  of  the  possession 
of  the  human  soul.  Sin  always  says  No  to 
God's  thoughts  and  to  God's  will,  to  all  that 
is  good,  true,  and  right.  But  the  No  is,  as 
it  were,  a  wheel,  and  the  axle  on  which  it 
turns  says  Yes.  Sin  says  No  to  God  because 
it  says  Yes  to  the  empirical  world  with  its 
pleasure  and  its  life. 

That  may  be  and  often  is  misinterpreted,  as 

if  the  Christian  despised  and  denied  the  world 

in  a  spirit  of  pietism  opposed  to  culture  and 

12 


178    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

of  asceticism  which  flees  from  the  world. 
This  representation  of  Christianity  is  false. 
What  a  wonderful  sense  of  the  beauty  of 
nature ;  what  a  loving  observation  of  men 
the  words  of  Jesus  disclose  !  How  well  Paul 
makes  use  of  all  the  culture  of  his  time  I 
What  delight  Luther  took  in  the  goods  and 
enjoyments  of  the  natural  life  I  We  do  not 
think  on  the  world  of  nature  and  on  the  heart 
and  mind  of  man  when  we  employ  the  word 
"  world  "  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Bible, 
but  think  on  the  world  "  which  lieth  in  wicked- 
ness," on  the  world  as  it  opposes  God,  on  the 
human  world  as  it  has  become  in  opposition 
to  God  and  His  will.  This  world  assents  to 
sin  and  therefore  says  No  to  God.  Christianity 
flees  from  this  world,  not  from  God's  world. 
To  blame  that  seriously  would  mean  prais- 
ing the  bad  and  condemning  enmity  against 
the  bad. 

We  know  wherein  the  essence  of  Chris- 
tianity, as  we  have  up  to  the  present  con- 
sidered it,  consists.     It  is  faith  as  the  experi- 


THE  NATURE  OF  HUMAN  SIN  179 

encing  of  the  sovereignty  of  God  ;  it  is  love  as 
the  service  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  What 
contradicts  this  is  sin,  and  a  thing  is  sin  only 
in  so  far  as  it  contradicts  this.  So  sin  will  be 
the  opposite  of  faith  and  love.  Or,  otherwise 
expressed,  sin  is  faith  in  the  world  and  love 
to  the  world  ;  the  world  reigns  and  service  is 
given  to  the  world.  Now  it  is  at  any  rate 
clear  what  we  understand  by  the  word 
"  world." 

There  is  no  one  who  does  not  believe  in 
something  last  and  highest,  and  who  does  not 
carry  a  supreme  ideal  in  his  soul.  There  the 
proofs  are  silent,  or  they  are  only  ornament 
and  tinsel ;  there  discussion  ceases,  investiga- 
tion cannot  proceed  further,  the  first  principles 
of  the  soul  have  been  reached.  And  in  face 
of  all  opposition  the  answer  comes  strong  and 
simple,  or  defiant  and  disheartened  :  that  is  my 
"  conviction." 

And  here  the  thing  is  decided  ;  here  lies  the 
difference.  Some  inquire  after  the  opinions 
of  the  most  prominent  leading  men,  or  listen 


180    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

to  the  demands  of  the  "  modern  "  or  the  "  old  "  ; 
others  follow  the  tendency  of  circumstances 
and  of  habit,  the  weight  of  public  opinion. 
What  they  hear  and  what  becomes  their  lord 
is  the  voice  of  the  world.  The  world  is  their 
highest  authority.  The  little  street  urchin 
makes  the  strong  man  tremble  when  he  can 
talk  in  name  of  the  "  world "  and  mock  at 
him. 

And  if,  then,  out  of  the  bustle  of  the  day, 
with  its  claims  and  business,  there  comes  a 
voice  softly  stealing  as  of  an  eternal  authority 
and  power,  they  shut  their  ears,  and  when 
the  words  of  Christ  force  their  way  into  their 
hearts,  they  have  no  time.  And  if  they  must 
listen,  it  brings  them  no  joy  and  power,  for 
they  hear  with  dislike  and  inward  opposi- 
tion.    That  is  unbelief. 

The  blame  is  laid  on  the  "  doctrines  "  more 
easily  than  the  self-consciousness  bound  up 
with  the  matter  might  lead  us  to  expect. 
They  are  declared  unintelligible  and  un- 
sympathetic.     But    it    does    not    lie   in   the 


THE  NATURE  OF  HUMAN  SIN  181 

'*  doctrines  "  ;  it  lies  in  the  matter  itself.  The 
almighty  authority  is  refused  in  the  desire  to 
hear  the  world  and  obey  it.  Where  a  human 
soul  hears  the  eternal  music  of  heaven  and 
will  listen,  there  the  way  to  the  understanding 
of  the  doctrines  is  easily  found.  It  is  not 
against  the  theories  that  unbelief  turns,  but 
against  the  actual  experiencing  of  God,  sub- 
jection to  God,  and  exaltation  of  the  soul 
to  Him. 

As  one  believes  so  he  loves.  For  we  believe 
at  first  what  we  afterwards  love.  He  who 
experiences  God  in  faith  loves  God  and  His 
purpose.  He  who  believes  in  the  world  loves 
the  world  and  its  goods.  These  goods  and 
the  pleasure  arising  from  them  are  the  best 
thing  he  can  strive  after,  for  he  is  pointed  to 
them  by  the  authority  he  believes  and  the 
power  he  follows.  These  goods  seem  manifold 
enough.  They  are  afforded  by  heaven- 
towering  summits  and  still  valleys ;  by  the 
mountain  fragrance  of  the  mind  and  the 
vapour  of  sensual  passion ;  by  the  Odin's  oak 


182    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

of  pride  and  the  golden  calf  of  riches ;  by- 
things  great  and  small,  lofty  and  low.  They 
bring  of  all  sorts  and  therefore  "something 
for  all." 

But  the  service  they  demand  benefits  in  the 
long  run  only  ourselves,  and  indeed  only  the 
low^er  and  the  low  in  us.  So  high-sounding  the 
words,  as  low  the  egoism ;  so  much  pleasure, 
as  little  love.  Much  idealism,  but  no  perma- 
nent great  ideal ;  much  reahsm,  but  no 
enduring  reality  to  which  the  soul  can  cleave 
in  the  changing  course  of  interests  and  tasks, 
in  the  alternation  of  hill  and  dale  on  the  path 
of  life.  Pleasure  in  the  world  is  in  the  long 
run  always  egoistic ;  the  service  of  the  world 
is  finally  service  of  ourselves  alone.  It  is 
marvellous  ;  he  who  does  not  serve  God  serves 
himself,  although  he  wills  to  serve  another. 
Man  can  serve  only  God  or  himself.  There  is 
no  third  possibility.  The  seeking  for  the  third 
way  fills  a  large  part  of  the  history  of  human 
idealism  and — of  human  errors.  I  serve  my- 
self, but  I  exist  for  another  end,  and  it  fails  ; 


THE  NATURE  OF  HUMAN  SIN  183 

it  does  not  compel  me  to  its  service.  It  is 
meaningless  in  the  long  run  to  serve  the  world. 
Pleasure  in  the  world  is  egoistic  pleasure. 

It  is  marvellous,  but  only  he  who  believes 
in  God  and  loves  Him  becomes  free  from  the 
ban  of  petty  egoism.  It  may  be  seen  in 
ordinary  life  that  only  he  who  is  completely 
engrossed  in  an  idea  is  able  to  deny  himself 
and  work  not  for  himself  alone.  But  the 
ideas  of  the  world  are  not  great  enough  to 
engross  the  whole  life.  It  comes  always  ulti- 
mately to  this,  that  the  thing  becomes  the 
means  and  we  are  the  end.  And  then  it  is 
true  that  whosoever  would  save  his  life  shall  lose 
it.  The  ends  grow  always  smaller ;  they  are 
found  always  more  in  the  worthlessly  individual 
delight ;  the  material  and  particular  wins  the 
sovereignty.  The  soul  that  seeks  itself  loses 
itself.  But  where  the  Divine  life  penetrates 
us  ;  where  the  absolutely  Encompassing  and 
Whole  takes  possession  of  us,  there,  and  only 
there,  do  we  become  free  from  egoism  ;  for 
there  our  being  is  incorporated  as  an  organ 


184    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

in  the  depth  of  the  Spirit ;  there  we  seek  not 
ourselves,  but  God  and  His  purpose.  And  he 
who  loses  his  life  in  this  way  shall  save  it. 
"No  man  liveth  to  himself."  But  only  he 
who  lives  in  God  is  inwardly  freed  from  the 
impulse  to  live,  and  the  consciousness  of  living, 
to  himself.  He  seeks  not  himself,  and  therefore 
he  receives  himself  again  an  hundred-fold  in 
the  new  life  of  the  Spirit. 

But  what  comes  from  this  world  fails.  It 
cannot  captivate  us,  and  therefore  does  not 
satisfy  us.  The  history  of  human  ideals  seems 
to  afford  a  time  when  it  appears  possible  to 
say  to  the  passing  moment,  "  Tarry,  thou  art 
so  fair !  "  Then  the  ideals  expire,  for  they  are 
not  the  truth  and  the  life.  They  are  at  the  best 
but  half  truth  and  half  life.  Then  the  other 
half  of  the  truth  and  the  life  cries  out  to  be 
united  with  the  first,  that  the  whole  may  be 
complete.  And  mankind  hears  the  cry  of  the 
other  half  of  the  truth  and  the  life,  and  clutches 
at  it  to  hold  and  save  it,  and  so  lets  go  the 
first  half.     Then  there  is  rejoicing  again  for  a 


THE  NATURE  OF  HUMAN  SIN  185 

little  while  on  account  of  what  has  been  found, 
till  the  cry  is  heard  again,  and  again  the 
partiality  of  the  possession  is  felt.  The  change 
of  opposing  world-philosophies,  as  seen  so 
clearly,  for  example,  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
is  the  judgment  which  they  pass  on  one  an- 
other, and  is  yet  once  more  the  expression  of 
the  fact  that  the  human  spirit  is  from  the  truth 
and  for  the  truth.  This  is  repeated  in  every 
individual  life.  Many  are  the  attempts  that 
are  made  and  divers  the  ideals  striven  after; 
but  the  attempts  do  not  still  the  longing,  and 
the  fruits  have  the  worm  in  them.  Who  has 
not  in  his  life  experienced  that  with  what  he 
called  '*  happiness  "  ?  Think  of  the  dreams  of 
youth.  "  AVhat  one  wishes  in  youth  one  has 
in  age  to  the  full,"  a  wise  man  has  said.  One 
does  not  attain  to  all  happiness,  but  in  the 
course  of  life  one  attains  to  much  happiness. 
But  it  is  like  the  "  Happiness  of  Edenhall,"  or 
"  The  Ring  of  Polycrates."  ^ 

1  '^Das  Gluck  von  Edenhall/' poem  by  Uhland;  "^Der 
Ring  des  Polykrates,"  poem  by  Schiller. 


186    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

But  even  if  the  happiness  lasts,  it  is  not 
what  we  wished  for.  It  is  quite  different 
from  what  we  fondly  imagined.  We  look  at 
it  from  the  distance  as  something  absolute, 
which  fills  the  whole  soul  —  calling,  work, 
love,  social  position  —  but  on  near  view  it 
becomes  small  and  shrivels  together,  and  the 
greater  the  expectation  was,  the  greater  the 
void  that  is  left  in  the  soul. 

And  yet  we  hold  fast  to  what  has  dis- 
appointed us  a  thousand  times,  and  we  do 
not  relinquish  what  we  have  found  to  be  of 
naught.  We  make  a  trial  with  something 
new,  although  it  is  nearly  akin  to  the  old. 
We  are  untrue  to  ourselves,  and  delude  and 
deceive  ourselves  with  the  illusive  representa- 
tion that  the  things  we  have  so  often  found  to 
be  of  naught  may  yet  turn  out  to  be  of  worth, 
that  the  flint  may  yet  turn  to  gold.  "  They 
whip  the  mire  to  see  if  it  will  not  become 
cream,"  says  Goethe.  That  is  the  nature  of 
sin  also.  And  the  years  come  and  go,  and 
the  long-yearned-for  happiness  moves  further 


THE  NATURE  OF  HUMAN  SIN  187 

and  further  off ;  but  the  sham  grows  and  grows, 
as  if  it  had  really  come  near  us.  That  is 
sin,  and  so  is  every  sin  constituted.  It  goes 
forth  from  unbelief  and  consists  in  egoistic 
pleasure,  and  asserts  itself  through  sham. 
Look  at  the  disobedient  child ;  at  the  youth 
falling  into  wantonness  or  despondency ;  at 
the  man  in  the  centre  of  worldly  pleasure  and 
world-weariness  ;  at  the  grey  head  depressed 
under  the  fear  of  death  and  impotent  resigna- 
tion— over  all  the  same  elements  of  sin  deter- 
mine life  and  lower  it,  and  do  not  let  it  come 
to  what  it  ought. 

But  sin  is  its  own  punishment.  Sin  is  evil. 
That  we  are  sinners,  limits  and  crushes  our 
life ;  it  makes  us  sham  souls  and  walking 
corpses ;  it  holds  us  back  from  the  one  thing 
that  makes  us  great  and  free.  So  sin  is  its 
own  punishment. 

But  it  is  so  in  still  another  sense.  Sin 
changes  the  whole  world  around  us  into  a 
house  of  correction  for  us.  My  sin  punishes 
the  sin  of  others,  and  the  sin  of  others  punishes 


188    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

mine.  What  tortures  us  in  life  is  sin,  for 
the  most  grievous  that  befalls  us  arises  from 
the  badness  of  men  and  from  our  own  badness. 

And,  thirdly,  sin  causes  us  to  feel  the 
oppression  of  the  world  and  its  system  of 
nature  fearful.  Not  God's  upbringing,  but 
tormenting  and  yet  senseless  enigmas  are  the 
natural  sufferings  of  life  to  us,  as  illness, 
poverty,  misery,  death,  and  dying. 

But  there  is  a  fourth  thing  that  sin  inflicts 
on  us  as  punishment.  Sin  is  guilt.  To  be 
a  sinner  means  living  in  the  consciousness  of 
guilt.  Thou  thyself  destroyest  thy  life  ;  thou 
thyself  art  the  gravedigger  of  thy  happiness ; 
thou  thyself  tramplest  under  foot  thy  power 
and  thy  joy  ;  thou  thyself  closest  thine  eye 
against  the  light  and  life  around  thee ;  thou 
thyself  banishest  peace  and  active  energy  from 
thy  being. 

But  behind  this  there  lies  another  and  a 
worse.  He  who  sins  wrongs  his  own  being. 
But  this  being  is  given  him  by  the  Omni- 
potence which  orders  all  things  and  of  which 


THE  NATURE  OF  HUMAN  SIN  189 

everyone  somehow  or  other  has  a  presenti- 
ment. The  soul  strives  as  it  can,  and  in  so 
far  as  it  can,  against  the  highest  it  knows,  to 
which  an  eternal  inclination  draws  it.  He 
who  sins,  sins  against  God.  He  is  covered 
with  guilt  before  God. 

The  measure  of  clearness  to  which  men 
attain  in  this  matter  is  different  according  to 
the  rehgion  and  the  morality  known  to  them. 
But  in  every  heart  is  somewhat  of  this  pre- 
sentiment present,  so  far  as  it  feels  that  it 
has  mistaken  its  destiny.  There  is  a  broad 
gulf  between  the  words  of  the  Psalmist, 
'*  Against  Thee,  Thee  only  have  I  sinned," 
and  the  dull  and  gloomy  feeling  of  the  ageing 
and  pining  child  of  the  world,  "  O  that  I  might 
begin  once  again  ;  but  my  strength  is  broken 
and  the  evening  is  drawing  near,"  or  the  super- 
stitious illusion  of  the  heathen,  who  hopes 
that  the  sacrifices  offered  to  the  INIanes  may 
still  cancel  the  unpaid  reckoning  of  his  ex- 
istence. But  there  is  one  element  common 
to   all:    the    consciousness    of    guilt,   or  the 


190    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

tormenting  self-accusation  that  ruins  one's 
own  life.  Thou  thyself  art  guilty,  thou  alone  ! 
The  stronger  the  God -consciousness  is,  the 
clearer  will  be  the  consciousness  of  guilt  in 
the  sinner.  But  even  when  the  thought  of 
God  is  dark  and  weak,  the  consciousness  of 
guilt  is  not  wanting.  It  is  a  new,  dark, 
fearful  enigma,  in  addition  to  all  the  tortur- 
ing problems  of  existence,  not  one  sharp  sting, 
but  a  garment  of  stings  that  afflicts  and  galls 
the  soul,  wounds  and  fevers  it. 

That  is  sin,  and  sin  is  guilt.  No  one  feels 
the  power  of  sin  and  the  sting  of  guilt  as  the 
Christian  does ;  but  there  is  no  one  who  does 
not  feel  them. 

And  sin  and  guilt  are  the  horror  of  exist- 
ence. He  who  does  not  know  them  knows 
the  life  of  the  soul  but  poorly ;  and  he  who 
knows  them  recognises  that  his  best  is  poor. 
He  who  does  not  know  them  does  not  know 
the  good  either ;  and  he  who  knows  them 
knows  that  there  is  nothing  good  in  him. 

That   is   the   might    of  the   Furies,   which 


THE  NATURE  OF  HUMAN  SIN  191 

ancient  poetry  once  so  powerfully  painted. 
We  no  longer  believe  in  them  :  they  are  long 
since  forgotten.  But  the  Furies  live  so  long 
as  sin  lives ;  and  sin  lives  so  long  as  the  heart 
does  not  experience  the  Deliverer  of  sinners. 
Jesus  Christ  is  this  Deliverer.  Who  is  to 
have  the  last  word  in  our  existence?  Jesus 
Christ  or  the  Furies,  the  sovereignty  of  God 
and  His  forgiveness,  or  sin  and  guilt  ?  That 
is  the  question. 


LECTURE  XI 

Origin  and  Spread  of  Sin;  the 
Redeemer  of  Sinners 

Sin  is  evil  and  sin  is  guilt.  These  were  the 
conclusions  come  to  in  our  last  lecture.  They 
are  justified  in  a  certain  sense  by  all  higher 
religions  and  by  all  deeper  philosophical 
tendencies.  On  that  account  they  speak  in 
common  also  of  a  redemption. 

But  this  redemption  may  be  understood  in 
very  different  ways.  It  may  be  said,  man 
frees  himself  from  the  fetters  of  his  lower 
nature  and  listens  to  the  voice  of  God  in  him  : 
"  Know  thyself,"  that  is,  know  the  power  for 
good  in  thee.  That  is  how  Socrates  thought. 
Or  one  may  be  pointed  to  the  heroes  of 
mankind :  they  have  beheld  the  good ;  follow 

192 


ORIGIN  AND  SPREAD  OF  SIN  193 

their  words  of  wisdom  and  thou  shalt  become 
free  from  evil.  Or,  finally,  death  may  be 
looked  upon  as  deliverer.  When  the  gilded 
fetters  of  the  material  world  break,  then  the 
spirit  is  set  free  to  eternal  joy  in  eternal  light. 

To  all  these  ideas  of  redemption  Christianity 
takes  up  a  hostile  attitude,  not  arbitrarily,  but 
of  inward  necessity.  Christianity  has  reached 
the  deepest  understanding  of  sin,  and  so  needs 
a  new  conception  of  redemption  ;  for  in  recog- 
nising the  depths  of  sin,  Christianity  sees  all 
those  powers  of  redemption  themselves  holden 
of  sin. 

We  must  find  an  explanation  of  this  fact, 

for  only  so  is  it  possible  to  understand  Christ 

as  the  Redeemer.     We  can  redeem  ourselves 

neither  by  good  thoughts  nor  by  good  works, 

for  "the  imagination  of  man's   heart  is   evil 

from  his  youth."     Sin  is  a  fundamental  moral 

tendency  in  the  human  soul,  for  it  is  unbelief 

and  egoistic  pleasure.     Not  here  and  there  in 

particular   actions   does   man    put   the   world 

above  God  ;  no,  he  desires  not  God  at  all,  for  he 

13 


194    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

wants  nothing  but  the  world.  He  who  rejects 
God  and  accepts  the  world  has  not  God  any- 
more ;  he  lives  not  to  God  but  to  the  world  or 
himself.  He  who  denies  a  personal  relation- 
ship, denies  it  completely.  He  who  cherishes 
dislike,  mistrust,  and  antipathy  towards  a 
person  has  inwardly  broken  with  him.  So 
from  his  side  there  can  be  no  restoration  of  the 
relationship,  for  there  is  no  point  of  connection 
in  him  from  which  to  start.  There  is  no  self- 
redemption. 

Neither  can  redemption  come  from  the 
human  race,  for  the  human  race  is  sinful  as  a 
whole.  Can  this  be  made  clear?  Obviously- 
much  depends  on  this,  for  it  decides  whether 
Christ  is  the  only  master,  or  whether  it  may 
be  possible  to  have  other  masters  alongside 
Him  and  even  over  Him. 

Now,  no  man  liveth  to  himself  Whether 
he  will  or  not,  he  exists  for  others.  His 
thought  and  will  are  expressed  in  words  and 
actions.  But  words  and  actions  produce  effect. 
The  greater  and  more  decisive  a  man's  thought 


ORIGIN  AND  SPREAD  OF  SIN  195 

and  will  are,  the  more  powerful  will  be  the 
eflPect  of  his  influence. 

There  is  sin  in  the  world,  and  sin  does  not 
come  from  nature,  as  everyone  distinctly  feels 
who  is  in  any  degree  freed  from  sin.  If  sin 
exists,  it  must  have  come  through  a  man,  for 
it  belongs  to  the  history  of  humanity.  A  man 
must  have  first  committed  sin,  and  the  more 
this  act  affected  his  life,  the  more  had  he 
to  show  it  off,  and  the  stronger  was  the 
inducement  to  his  fellow-men  to  take  sides 
with  him ;  for  the  more  original  an  experi- 
ence is,  the  greater  the  propaganda  which  it 
effects.  If  the  universality  of  sin  be  in  any 
degree  admitted,  the  first  sin  will  be  dated  as 
far  back  in  the  history  of  humanity  as  possible. 
The  smaller  the  circle  was  then,  the  less  the 
reflection  and  the  stronger  the  spell  of  the 
external  world,  the  more  easily  comprehensible 
does  it  become  that  sin  spread  universally. 
So  the  conclusion  is  arrived  at  that  the  first 
man  was  the  first  sinner. 

That  is  the  origin  of  sin,  so  far  as  it  interests 


196    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

us  here.  Thereby  another  point  is  made  clear. 
If  a  man  has  become  a  sinner,  he  will  drag 
mankind  into  his  sin.  What  is  greatest  and 
deepest  in  mankind  is  communicated  through 
words  and  deeds ;  but  evil  and  sin  also  spread 
in  the  same  way.  That  is  the  nature  of  social 
life.  With  this  is  connected  a  third  point. 
Not  only  is  man  by  nature  adapted  for  the 
mutual  effects  of  social  intercourse :  he  also 
gives  rise  to  a  continued  chain  of  influences. 
Mental  tendencies  are  immortal.  For  the 
mind  also  the  law  of  the  '*  conservation  of 
energy "  holds  good.  The  thought  that  has 
once  been  expressed  and  the  deed  that  has  once 
been  done  continue  the  effect  of  their  influence 
to  new  generations.  They  build  the  frame  in 
which  the  further  life  of  man  is  lived  and  spin 
the  threads  which  are  woven  into  the  frame. 

So  sin  has  spread  and  been  propagated. 
The  temperament  of  man  afforded  it  ready 
paths  to  easier  extension.  Once  there,  it  was 
like  the  snowflake  that  became  an  avalanche. 
The  play  of  human  forces  in  their  mutual  co- 


ORIGIN  AND  SPREAD  OF  SIN  197 

operation  and  opposition  became  sin.  The 
mutual  oppositions  of  men  deepened  sin — as 
seen,  for  example,  in  the  story  of  Cain  and 
Abel — and  their  co-operation  spread  it — as  seen 
in  the  idea  of  the  tower  of  Babel.  The 
individuality  of  each  and  the  manifoldness  of 
the  relations  and  conditions  created  divers 
shades  and  types  of  sin.  Sin  became  individual, 
and  character  became  sinful.  The  human  type 
with  its  endless  forms  is  not  more  diverse, 
nor  all  the  different  charms  and  attractions  of 
the  world  more  varied  than  sin  became.  The 
diversity  of  human  individualities  turned 
everything  into  an  incentive  to  sin.  What- 
ever mankind  finds  that  is  new  and  great  has 
made  and  is  making  epochs  also  in  the  history 
of  sin  :  for  example,  the  discovery  of  America 
has  to  be  mentioned  in  the  history  of  sin.  So 
sin  became  diverse.  What  a  contrast  between 
intoxicated  sensuality  and  giddy  pride,  between 
the  greed  of  the  avaricious  and  the  impulse  of 
the  ambitious  ! — and  yet  in  their  deepest  nature 
all  these  phenomena  are  one. 


198    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

That  has  been  recognised  already.  But  we 
must  consider  an  objection  which  an  attentive 
listener  might  possibly  make  here.  The 
nature  of  man,  it  has  just  been  said,  was  easily 
and  quickly  won  for  sin.  But  it  was  said 
before,  the  nature  of  man  is  fitted  for  the 
exaltation  of  soul  which  Christianity  offers. 
Is  not  that  a  contradiction? 

It  is  a  contradiction,  in  so  far  as  sin  is 
certainly  a  contradiction  not  only  of  God,  but 
also  of  the  nature  that  has  been  created  by 
God.  This  contradiction  is,  however,  not 
unintelligible  and  insoluble  in  the  particular 
cases.  What  sin  affords  are  real  goods  and 
real  emotions  of  pleasure.  Otherwise  it  were 
unthinkable  that  man  would  take  them  up 
and  persist  in  them.  Only  they  are  not  the 
highest  goods.  But  sin  ever  draped  itself 
with  the  highest  goods,  as  if  they  were  robes 
that  could  be  put  on  and  off,  and  ever  clung 
about  culture  and  progress.  The  lower 
tendency  always  likes  to  gild  its  lowness — it 
was  so  already  in  Paradise — with  the  phrases 


ORIGIN  AND  SPREAD  OF  SIN  199 

'*  likeness  to  God  "  and  "  freedom,"  and  makes 
itself  lower  thereby  and  testifies  for  all  that  to 
what  is  highest.  Now  nature,  it  is  true,  is 
made  for  the  highest  exertion  of  power.  But 
the  same  nature  also  opposes  this  exertion  and 
endeavours  in  the  particular  case  always  to  get 
along  with  the  least  exertion  or  by  the  shortest 
way.  Alongside  the  dry  highroad  there  are 
always  footpaths  through  the  grass  and  mud 
to  "  cut  off  corners,"  and  alongside  ordinary 
books  there  are  everywhere  and  at  all  times 
"cribs."  The  younger  and  more  immature 
a  man  or  mankind  is,  the  stronger  does  this 
law  of  self-consideration,  or  the  reduction  of 
exertion,  work.  Thus  it  is  quite  compre- 
hensible that  mankind  contented  itself  with 
smaller  aims  and  goods,  but  it  is  just  as  in- 
telligible that  this  condition  brought  no  real, 
lasting  satisfaction.  But  in  this  way,  again,  it 
is  seen  that  Christianity  is  really  a  new  creation  ; 
that  it  brought  man  to  the  completion  of  his 
being,  and  that  sin  hinders  and  limits  man  and 
drags  him  down  under  the  human  level. 


200    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

We  have  seen  how  from  the  sin  of  the 
individual  the  sin  of  the  race  arose  by  spiritual 
connection.  This  thought  may  be  confirmed 
through  the  observation  of  the  physical  pro- 
pagation of  the  human  race.  This  must,  of 
course,  not  be  understood  as  if  generation  as 
such  were  sinful ;  that  would  be,  looked  at 
theoretically,  in  the  long  run  no  wiser  than 
the  old  rationalistic  fiction  that  the  first  men 
were  poisoned  by  the  apple  in  Paradise.  But 
if  through  sin  man  was  dragged  down  under 
the  human  level,  it  must  have  brought  about 
definite  effects  in  his  natural  constitution. 
The  lusts  "which  war  against  the  soul" 
weaken  and  degrade  the  human  race.  In  this 
connection  mention  may  be  made  of  a  con- 
ception which  at  the  present  day  is  on  every- 
one's lips,  namely,  "degeneration."  But  we 
cannot  here  enter  on  the  difficult  problems 
that  are  connected  with  the  conception  of 
"  heredity."  It  is  sufficient  for  us  if  we  under- 
stand that  the  above-mentioned,  sinful  col- 
lective life  of  mankind,  spreads  all  the  more 


ORIGIN  AND  SPREAD  OF  SIN  201 

freely  as  the  physical  constitution  of  the 
human  race  becomes  depraved  through  sin. 
The  offspring  of  sinners  became  weaker,  more 
irritable,  of  more  "  problematical  nature."  ^  If 
this  coincided  with  the  mighty  mental  stream 
of  sinful  tendencies  which  immediately  en- 
veloped the  new-born  child,  the  universality 
of  sin  became  only  all  the  more  compre- 
hensible. 

But  if  sin  is  universal,  then  we  cannot  look 
up  to  any  member  of  the  human  race  as 
deliverer  ;  they  incite  and  lead  onward,  but 
they  do  not  deliver. 

Least  of  all  is  there  any  help  to  be  got  from 
the  last  possibility  that  was  mentioned,  namely, 
deliverance  through  death.  He  who  hopes 
for  deliverance  by  death  surrenders  the  known 
as  vain,  and  sets  his  hope  of  salvation  on 
the  unknown.  The  calculation  does  not  tally. 
There  remains  an  oC,  and  the  oC  is  looked  on 
as  if  it  were  a  known  quantity.  It  is  not 
worth  while  to  discuss  this  standpoint  further. 

^  Prohlematische  Naturen,  novel  by  Friedrich  Spielhagen. 


202    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

It  is  mere  idle  talk  to  hold  that  the  soul 
becomes  happy  in  the  unknown,  while  it  is 
unhappy  in  the  known.  If  the  upright  torch 
gave  no  light,  how  can  it  be  expected  to 
when  turned  upside  down  ?  The  soul  surely 
cannot,  if  it  is  to  remain  our  ego,  be  trans- 
formed into  something  quite  different  after 
death.  How  can  one  hope  to  become  blessed, 
if  one  does  not  experience  blessedness?  how 
can  one  await  exaltation  if  one  holds  to  the 
lower?  Death  delivers  only  him  whom  life 
has  delivered  :  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  which 
die  in  the  Lord" — ay,  for  they  lived  in  the 
Lord. 

It  is  not  we  who  deliver  ourselves,  nor  does 
mankind  deliver  us,  nor  is  death  the  deliverer. 
The  human  race  and,  with  it,  all  its  members, 
are  subject  to  the  curse  of  sin.  However 
free  they  move,  their  movement  is  conditioned 
by  the  universe  of  action  in  which  it  now  is, 
namely,  that  of  sin.  What  lies  beyond  this 
universe  of  action  has  no  existence  for  them, 
God's  sovereignty  and  God's  Kingdom  are  for 


THE  REDEEMER  OF  SINNERS  203 

them  no  realities  which  urge  on  to  decision, 
they  are  only  conceptions.  But  conceptions 
do  not  deliver ;  it  is  the  power  of  life  that 
delivers. 

Christianity  asserts  that  it  possesses  the 
deliverance  as  the  power  of  God  unto  salva- 
tion. The  assertion  attaches  itself  to  the 
person  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  Him  alone 
"who  redeemed  me,  purchased  and  won  me 
from  all  sins,  from  death  and  from  the  power 
of  the  devil,"  as  our  Catechism  says. 

Who  was  Jesus  Christ  ?  At  first  we  look 
away  from  all  formulas  which  dogmatics  have 
woven  around  His  person.  It  is  a  question 
purely  as  to  the  historical  individual. 

He  was  born  and  grew  up  in  humble  cir- 
cumstances. The  family  inheritance  was 
small,  but  the  national  inheritance  was  vast. 
It  was  the  conception  of  the  sovereignty  of 
God.  God  makes  the  new  covenant  of  re- 
demption :  He  writes  the  law  inwardly  in 
the  heart  by  the  almighty  power  of  His 
Spirit :    He  forgives  sin  and  gives  to  human 


204    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

activity  the  ideal  of  the  Kingdom  of  God 
as  goal.  These  were  great  thoughts.  The 
prophet  Jeremiah  more  than  any  other  ex- 
pressed them  clearly  and  with  effect  for 
history.  But  they  had  become  veiled  and 
encysted  in  the  narrow  forms  of  national 
fanaticism.  Babylonian  metaphysics  and 
cosmology  and  Hellenic  philosophy  had  been 
called  in  to  help  to  fashion  these  simple  but 
mighty  thoughts,  impressively  and  magni- 
ficently, "  in  conformity  with  the  age."  Men 
dreamed  of  the  destruction  of  the  world  and 
of  new  worlds,  of  national  liberation,  and  of 
fearful  judgments  on  the  Romans  and  "the 
nations."  National  fanaticism  was  stirred  up 
into  a  mighty  flame,  and  the  hopes  became 
ever  more  material.  And  yet — there  was 
nothing  more  than  conceptions  ;  and  life  re- 
mained small  and  crafty,  and  a  paltry  re- 
ligiousness that  thought  only  of  reward, 
flourished. 

Jesus  experienced  these  great  simple  ideas. 
He  felt  that  God  was  the  almighty  Ruler  and 


THE  REDEEMER  OF  SINNERS  205 

merciful  Father,  He  perceived  the  coming  of 
His  sovereignty  with  the  most  inward  cer- 
tainty, and  saw  with  clear  vision  the  Kingdom 
of  God  as  the  communion  of  the  pious  who 
serve  God.  He  Himself  was  the  first  pious 
one  of  this  nature.  He  lived  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  almighty  nearness  of  God ; 
the  need  and  joy  of  life  declared  to  Him  the 
sovereignty  of  God.  He  knew  no  other  goal 
and  no  other  joy  than  the  service  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  Humbly  and  silently  He 
prosecuted  God's  cause,  and  with  wonderful 
energy  and  power — only  he  who  experiences 
them  knows  them — He  served  that  end.  He 
felt  Himself  to  be  the  organ  of  His  God,  to  be 
His  servant.  And  this  was  for  Him  a  matter 
of  course.  He  made  incidental  use  of  the 
forms  in  which  these  things  had  been  clothed, 
but  they  had  given  way  under  the  pressure  of 
His  hand,  and  hung  loose  like  a  broken  shell 
around  the  kernel.  No  break  in  His  develop- 
ment, no  inward  catastrophe  is  known  to  us. 
When  the  Spirit  moved  Him   to   leave   His 


206    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

retirement  and  enter  on  public  life,  the 
temptation  came  to  Him,  it  is  true,  to  unite 
Himself  with  the  powers  of  the  world  so  as  to 
become  master  of  it  in  that  way.  But  He 
rejected  it  in  the  consciousness  of  serving  God 
alone.  He  saw  through  the  opposers  of  His 
work  immediately,  even  before  they  had 
themselves  become  conscious  of  the  range  of 
their  opposition.  He  never  needed  to  throw 
away  what  He  had  honoured,  and  to  honour 
what  He  had  thrown  away.  The  child  "must 
be  in  His  Father's  house  " ;  He  who  went  to 
meet  His  death  must  drink  the  cup  which 
the  Father  had  prepared  for  Him.  That  is 
all  so  plain  and  simple,  free  from  every  hollow 
phrase  and  outward  show,  free  from  all  that  is 
won  with  toil  and  trouble  and  from  all  that  is 
gained  by  one's  own  effort.  He  felt  the  sove- 
reignty of  God,  and  He  served  the  Kingdom 
of  God  sincerely,  simply,  plainly,  with  perfectly 
natural  self-denial.  From  His  deepest  con- 
sciousness He  says,  "  Which  of  you  convicteth 
me  of  sin  ? " 


THE  REDEEMER  OF  SINNERS         207 

The  consideration  of  all  this  might  lead  to 
the  formula,  Jesus  was  the  first  Christian  and, 
in  the  full  sense  of  the  word,  the  only  believer 
that  the  history  of  mankind  knows.  But  over 
against  this  moment  there  was  another,  which 
is  not  less  sharply  and  clearly  impressed.  The 
man  who  had  come  "  to  minister,  not  to  be 
ministered  unto  "  was  at  the  same  time  con- 
scious of  being  the  Lord  of  the  world.  His 
words  are  God's  words  ;  He  has  power  over  all 
things ;  to  believe  in  Him  and  to  obey  Him  is 
the  duty  of  man ;  He  is  the  Judge  of  the 
world  who  shall  come  again  in  the  glory  of 
heaven.  And  these  thoughts  and  claims  too 
seem  a  matter  of  course  in  the  mouth  of  Jesus. 
Incidentally  it  has  again  been  said,  Jesus  is 
not  part  of  the  gospel  which  He  preached. 
This  sentence  is  either  quite  right  or  quite 
wrong.  It  is  quite  right  if  it  means,  Jesus 
is  not  related  to  His  gospel  as  a  part  to  the 
whole,  as  a  paragraph  to  the  system.  It  is 
quite  wrong  if  its  purpose  is  to  deny  that 
Jesus  Himself  is  the  essence  and  power  of  His 


208    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

gospel.  He  gives  rest  to  the  weary  and  heavy- 
laden  ;  He  gives  life,  for  He  is  the  Life.  The 
gospel  is  not  a  "  system  of  teaching,"  but  the 
spiritual  life-power  of  Christ. 

Jesus  did  not  need  to  draw  special  attention 
to  these  thoughts,  and  He  did  not  think  of 
excusing  them.  At  first,  His  disciples  did 
not  come  to  the  knowledge  that  He  was  the 
promised  Messiah.  But  they  perceived  and 
experienced  greater  things  in  Him  than  had 
ever  been  expected  from  the  Messiah.  No 
miracle  seemed  to  them  too  great,  no  exercise 
of  power  too  world-encompassing  to  believe 
Him  capable  of.  This  impression,  which  lived 
in  them,  showed  the  wonderful  power  of  Him 
by  whom  it  was  produced. 

Jesus  went  to  His  death  in  the  service  of 
love,  and  in  the  consciousness  that,  dying.  He 
was  victorious.  He  had  said  before  that  He 
would  rise  again.  The  empty  grave  was  seen 
by  different  followers,  and  the  Risen  One 
appeared  repeatedly  to  the  disciples.  These 
are   facts  which  are  testified   to  so  variously 


THE  REDEEMER  OF  SINNERS         209 

and  rightly,  that  doubt  of  them  can  be  ex- 
plained only  from  the  religious  zeal  of  con- 
tradiction. The  consciousness  of  the  presence 
of  the  living  Christ  remained  with  the  dis- 
ciples even  after  His  last  appearance  among 
them,  which  is  called  the  Ascension.  He  lived 
in  them  and  they  in  Him.  What  they  had 
but  dimly  divined  during  His  earthly  life  had 
now  become  clear  knowledge.  All  the  re- 
ligious experience  of  their  soul  can  be  gathered 
together  in  the  thought  that  He  is  the  Lord, 
who  now  reigns  and  will  come  once  again  to 
judge  the  quick  and  the  dead.  But  the  same 
men  did  not  grow  weary  of  holding  up  His 
humility  and  willingness  to  bear  suffering,  His 
faith  and  His  courage,  as  an  example. 

Jesus  had  lived — so  it  seems — a  double  life. 
He  had  felt  Himself  to  be  the  Lord  of  the 
world,  and  He  was  a  humble  servant  of  the 
Lord  of  the  world.  So  death  was  for  Him  the 
entrance  to  life,  and  yet  it  was  the  painful 
death  of  a  poor   man.      And   so   those  who 

believed   in    Him   saw   the   man   of    sorrows 

14 


210    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

and  His  humility,  and  nevertheless  felt  His 
sovereignty  as  that  of  Him  who  penetrates 
and  guides  all  things. 

The  paradox  of  Jesus'  self- consciousness 
continues  through  His  historical  position.  Can 
a  solution  of  it  be  found  ? 


LECTURE    XII 

The  Person  of  Jesus  Christ 

There  are  two  historical  facts  which  we  must 
here  endeavour  to  explain.  How  could  the 
humblest  of  the  children  of  men  feel  Himself 
to  be  Lord  and  Judge  of  the  world,  and  how 
could  the  Crucified  be  known  and  adored  by 
His  followers  as  Lord  and  God  ?  Both 
expressions  are  applied  to  Him  in  the  New 
Testament. 

As  long  as  there  are  Christians  both  facts 
are  recognised,  and  both  questions  have  been 
the  subject  of  reflection.  What  does  history 
teach  as  to  these  questions  ?  Paul  and  John 
gave  expression  to  those  facts,  and  the 
Churches  founded  by  them  did  not  think 
otherwise.     For    them  the   man  Jesus,   who 

211 


212    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

was  really  and  truly  a  man,  is  at  the  same 
time  somehow  the  only-begotten  Son  of  the 
Father,  who  had  existed  in  heavenly  glory 
with  God,  and  who,  after  having  taught, 
worked,  suffered,  died,  and  risen  again,  here 
below,  is  again  in  possession  of  divine  glory 
and  power,  so  that  He,  the  Eternal,  lives  as 
Lord  of  His  Church  and  rules  the  hearts  of 
men. 

These  thoughts  represent  the  religious  faith 
of  the  Apostolic  time,  but  they  contain  no 
theoretical  answer  to  those  questions. 

The  first  theoretical  attempt  at  solution 
was  offered  by  the  Gnostics.  Jesus  was 
something  like  a  man,  but  there  was  much 
that  was  merely  appearance  in  His  humanity. 
A  heavenly  spirit  came  upon  Him  at  His 
baptism  and  left  Him  again  before  the 
crucifixion,  and  looked  on,  smiling,  at  the 
wickedness  of  the  murderers. 

But  it  was  felt  that  the  full  humanity  of 
Jesus  could  not  be  abandoned ;  to  explain  His 
divine  nature  recourse  was  had  to  the  Logos 


THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        213 

idea.  The  Logos  conception  was  current 
among  contemporary  heathen  philosophers, 
and  was  a  favourite  word,  hke  the  conception 
of  the  "  absolute,"  in  later  times.  The  divine 
reason,  so  it  was  thought,  separates  itself  from 
the  Godhead  and  enters  into  the  world,  giving 
it  form  and  showing  itself  in  human  reason. 
The  apologists  of  the  ancient  Church  took 
over  these  thoughts  and  applied  them  to 
Christ.  Hence  came  the  idea  of  the  "  second 
God."  Still,  the  unity  of  God  could  always 
be  asserted,  for  God's  reason  is  God.  In 
Christ  there  are  accordingly  two  constituent 
parts,  the  divine  nature  and  the  man  Jesus, 
and  both  were  embraced  in  the  unity  of  one 
person. 

The  "second  God"  was  for  any  length  of 
time  an  intolerable  conception.  It  was  chiefly 
through  the  teaching  of  Arius  that  the  second 
God  became  a  demi-god  after  the  pattern  of 
Greek  mythology.  But  there  cannot  be  a 
higher  and  a  lower  God ;  God  is  of  necessity 
one.     It  was  the  chief  merit  of  Athanasius  that 


214    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

he  secured  the  recognition  of  this  point.  The 
one  God  is  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit.  The  Son, 
as  also  the  Spirit,  is  the  same  as  the  Father. 
It  is  not  a  like  dignity  nor  a  like  nature  that 
they  have,  but  they  are  one  and  the  same  God 
with  the  Father.  That  is  the  meaning  of  the 
famous  word  '*homoousios."  This  conception 
took  its  rise  from  the  working  of  Christ.  He 
worked  in  divine  power ;  thus  He  is  God.  But 
these  divine  operations  are  mediated  through 
a  genuine  and  complete  human  life ;  thus  He 
is  man.  Since  His  own  human  life  attained 
divine  character  through  His  God-power,  He 
was  able  to  invest  humanity  also  with  divine 
nature.     So  thought  Athanasius. 

But  this  creation  of  thought  did  not  get 
beyond  the  character  of  religious  assertion. 
As  assertion  it  is  great,  for  it  embraces  the 
whole  matter ;  but  as  theory  it  remains  incom- 
prehensible— only  one,  yet  three.  But  incom- 
prehensible theories  are  bad,  for  they  afford  no 
real  explanation.  Hence  it  can  be  easily  under- 
stood how  the  practical  application  soon  took 


THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       215 

the  form :  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit  are  three 
persons,  as,  for  example,  three  angels  or  three 
men ;  but  they  are  one  in  so  far  as  they  are  of 
like  character  and  like  nature.  It  was  only 
through  all  kinds  of  artifices  that  this  concep- 
tion could  be  defended  against  the  reproach  of 
tritheism. 

But  the  more  clearly  Christ  was  recognised 
as  God,  the  greater  the  difficulty  became  when 
one  thought  of  the  figure  of  the  man  Jesus, 
which  could  not  be  forgotten.  How  could 
one  unite  with  it  the  God  Logos  without  being 
led  to  a  mythological  double-being  ?  Accord- 
ing to  some  the  man  Jesus  had  no  human 
reason,  its  place  being  supplied  by  the  Divine 
Logos.  This  was  held  by  the  opposing  party 
to  be  equivalent  to  a  denial  of  the  humanity  of 
Jesus :  deity  and  humanity  were  two  separate 
natures;  or,  according  to  a  third  party,  they 
mingled  with  each  other  so  as  to  form  one 
common  nature.  The  matter  was  not  cleared 
up.  The  Council  of  Chalcedon,  451  a.d., 
decreed  two  natures  but  only  one  person.     But 


216    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

how  was  that  thinkable  if  both  these  natures 
are  essentially  personal  ?  Recourse  was  had  at 
last  to  the  assertion  that  the  human  nature 
was  impersonal  (anhypostatic)  and  received 
personality  from  the  divine  nature,  and  in  it 
and  through  it  became  personal  (enhypostasia). 
But  was,  then,  Christ's  human  nature  complete; 
was  not  the  result  only  a  more  or  less  apparent 
existence  of  the  man  Jesus  ?  The  God  Logos 
is  fully  present,  but  the  man  Jesus  exists  only 
as  a  complex  of  human  forces  and  capabilities. 
And  yet  the  picture  of  Jesus  was  the 
picture  of  the  fairest  and  strongest  of  the 
children  of  men.  But  wherein,  if  not  in 
the  personality,  exist  the  power  and  the 
beauty  of  man? 

The  doctrine  of  the  two  natures  and  the  one 
person  remained,  and  became  a  "noli  me 
tangere " ;  men  clung  to  it  in  spite  of  all 
possible  circumlocutions  and  new  interpreta- 
tions. Science  changed,  and  there  arose  a  new 
and  deeper  view  of  personality.  In  the  time  of 
the  Church  Fathers  the  word  "  person  "  meant 


THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       217 

individual  being  ^ ;  now  the  word  means  the 
mental,  or  spiritual  nature  of  the  individual 
being :  the  conceptions  substance  or  nature  be- 
came empty  because  ambiguous.  But  still  the 
traditional  formula  was  not  given  up  ;  and  this 
was  right,  for,  as  things  then  were,  there  was 
nothing  better  to  put  in  its  place,  and  so  to 
give  it  up  would  have  meant  loss. 

But  what  does  the  continuance  of  a  formula 
mean?  This  question  has  already  been 
answered.  It  does  not  mean  the  perpetuation 
of  the  theoretical  world-philosophy  and  of  the 
scientific  terminology  of  days  that  are  gone 
by,  but  the  rejection  of  a  spiritual  tendency  as 
irreligious  and  the  feeling  of  inner  union  with 
the  religious  motives  and  the  final  intention 
of  that  formula.  Scarcely  any  present  -  day 
adherent  of  the  old  formula  means  thereby 
that  Christ  possessed  the  abstract  "human 
nature,"  without  a  spiritual  human  personality, 
or  that  the  deity  in  Christ  was  a  "  substance  " 
or  a  "nature."     We  feel  and  think  otherwise. 

1  Einzelwesen. 


218    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

For  us  the  all-important  point  is  that  the 
person  of  the  man  Jesus  united  itself  with  the 
personal  God  and  that  thereby  the  man  Jesus 
became  our  Lord. 

No  less  an  authority  than  Luther  himself 
opened  up  the  way  to  a  solution.  He  adhered 
strongly  to  the  doctrine  of  the  two  natures 
and  the  one  person,  and  no  one  will  suspect 
him  of  being  willing  to  abandon  anything  of 
the  divinity  of  Christ.  But  the  being  of  God 
is  for  him  not  an  infinite  substance,  but  God 
is  the  personal,  spiritual  will  of  love,  the 
almighty  sovereignty  of  love.  This  eternal 
love-energy  filled  the  human  soul  of  Jesus 
so  as  to  become  its  content.  That  is ,  the 
divinity  of  Christ.  Luther  is  vivid  and  rich 
in  picturing  the  individual  and  personal  life 
of  the  child  and  the  man  Jesus.  But  Jesus 
was  the  Lord,  almighty  in  His  love,  although 
He  restrained,  concealed,  as  it  were.  His  omni- 
potence in  the  days  of  His  earthly  life. 

That  shows  us  the  way. 

One  point  is   at   least  clear.     Jesus  was   a 


THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       219 

man,  no  empty,  abstract  "  humanity,"  but  a 
real,  complete  man,  with  a  powerful  personal 
life.  Jesus  had  a  unique  soul,  with  a  peculiar 
mode  of  perception,  thought,  and  speech.  To 
deny  that  is  to  go  directly  contrary  to  the 
tradition  of  His  life  ;  it  is  simply  "  unscriptural." 
But  the  content  of  our  spiritual  life  is  given 
us  from  outside.  The  will  of  God  is  the  last 
and  highest  that  fills  our  soul ;  but  it  is  the 
will  of  another  person,  God's  will,  and  not 
ours.  In  proportion  as  we  are  conscious  of 
this  do  we  feel  ourselves  to  be  organs  of  God 
and  fulfillers  of  His  will.  The  consciousness 
that  we  will  what  God  wills  increases  in 
strength  as  time  goes  on.  And  the  more  we 
will  that,  the  stronger  does  our  will  become, 
and  the  easier  does  it  overcome  the  limitations 
of  human  skill  and  power,  the  clearer  does  the 
eye  see  in  the  intricacy  of  phenomena  the 
realisation  of  the  Divine  will,  and  the  stronger 
does  the  perception  become  that  our  life-work, 
too,  reaches  on  to  the  final  goals  of  existence. 
Fortitude   unites  with   humility ;   strength   is 


220    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  REIJGION 

made  perfect  in  weakness ;  God's  will  shows 
itself  in  our  will ;  our  personal  life  becomes  a 
revelation  of  the  being  of  God.  In  the  ancient 
Church  men  spoke  of  a  process  by  which  the 
believing  Christian  was  through  Christ  "  made 
God. "  ^  Although  we  should  not  use  the  expres- 
sion nowadays,  we  can  understand  how  it  arose. 

But  all  that — it  is  not  imagination  ;  it  is 
the  strength  and  the  being  of  our  life — is 
broken  in  us  by  the  power  of  sin.  We  share 
it  with  many  others ;  and  we  share  it  with 
them  because  we,  like  them,  have  won  it  out 
of  the  fulness  of  Jesus  Christ.  More  than 
once  pious  hearts  have  expressed  the  thought 
that  we  should  become,  as  it  were,  **  Christs," 
but  it  was  always  meant  that  we  should  do  so 
through  Christ,  by  His  being  "born  in  us." 

Hence  nothing  could  be  more  absurd  than 
to  put  Christ  on  the  same  plane  with  the 
Christians ;  for  what  they  have  of  likeness  to 
Him  has  come  from  Him.  The  greater  and 
stronger  they  were,  the   smaller  and   weaker 

^   Oio-rrotelvf  Vergottung. 


THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        221 

they  felt  themselves  in  relation  to  Him :  He 
gave,  and  they  received  the  best,  ay,  all,  from 
His  spirit.  Yet  these  thoughts  may  be  used 
as  a  point  of  connection  for  the  understanding 
of  the  enigma  of  Christ's  person.  What  we 
have  through  Him  He  has  from  God,  and 
what  takes  place  in  us  on  a  small  scale  and 
fragmentarily,  limited  and  sporadic,  was  com- 
plete in  Him. 

Science  starts  from  realities  and  remains 
science  only  so  long  as  it  holds  this  ground. 
But  it  does  not  merely  describe  the  single 
facts ;  it  unites  them  into  a  system.  The 
facts  themselves  necessitate  this ;  for  it  is  not 
in  their  isolation,  but  as  a  connected  whole, 
that  they  influence  us.  But  the  more  exten- 
sive this  system  is,  the  greater  the  number  of 
gaps  for  the  understanding;  but  since  we 
perceive  it  to  be  a  unity,  we  endeavour  to 
fill  up  the  gaps.  This  is  done  by  means  of 
hypotheses.  If  these  hypotheses  hold  good 
for  the  given  facts,  the  system  which  they 
form  will  also  be  recognised  as  fact.     Now  a 


222    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

theory  of  the  person  of  Christ  can  be  obtained 
only  by  way  of  a  scientific  hypothesis,  and 
this  hypothesis  will  approach  to  the  truth  so 
far  as  it  explains  and  unites  the  facts.  We 
have  ascertained  the  facts  which  are  given  us 
about  Christ.  Now  an  attempt  must  be  made 
to  unite  them  in  the  Christian  system  as  a 
whole.  For  this  the  following  hypothesis 
serves. 

The  God-will  that  guides  the  history  of 
mankind  to  salvation  entered  into  history  in 
Jesus,  became  man  in  Him,  and  worked  after 
the  method  of  human  history  in  His  words 
and  deeds.  This  special  Divine  will  revealed 
in  history  fashioned  the  man  Jesus  as  its  organ 
and  as  the  clear  and  definite  expression  of  its 
being.  It  created  the  man  Jesus,  as  once  the 
first  man,  for  its  organ — that  is  the  last  and 
deepest  significance  of  the  very  ancient  his- 
torical tradition  that  Jesus  was  born  of  the 
Virgin  Mary — and  united  itself  with  the  man 
Jesus  from  the  first  moment  of  His  existence  ; 
it  acted  on  Him,  and  permeated  His  feeling, 


THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       223 

thought,  and  will.  Thus  the  man  Jesus  be- 
came "  Son  of  God."  This  designation,  as  it  is 
used  of  the  kings  of  Israel  and  also  in  the  New 
Testament  of  the  Christians  ("  child  of  God  "), 
points,  in  the  first  place,  only  to  the  particular 
guarding  and  guiding  Father-relation  of  God 
to  the  man  Jesus.  God  was  operative  in  the 
man  Jesus  in  such  a  way  that  all  the  thoughts 
and  emotions  of  His  soul.  His  aspiration  and 
will,  always  assented  to  and  carried  out  the 
God-will  that  dwelt  in  Him  and  determined 
Him.  "My  meat  is  to  do  the  will  of  Him 
that  sent  Me."  That  was  His  life,  the  content 
and  power  of  His  soul,  and  must  have  held 
good  of  the  child  and  youth  as  well  as  of  the 
man,  of  the  teacher  and  wonder-worker,  of 
Him  who  died  and  rose  again.  What  He 
felt,  willed,  thought,  said,  and  did,  was  worked 
in  Him  by  the  personal  God-will  that  dwelt 
in  Him,  and  stands  out  with  all  the  freedom 
and  joy,  all  the  power  and  blessedness  of  the 
human  soul  which  belongs  to  its  God  and 
serves  Him. 


224    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

By  the  expression  "  personal  God-will,"  as  it 
is  used  here  and  also  later  on,  is  meant  not  a 
mere  operative  force  which  proceeds  from  God, 
as  it  is  active  elsewhere  also,  but  the  Divine 
Person  Himself.  A  person  is  nothing  else 
than  conscious  personal  will.  The  Divine 
Person  entered  so  into  Jesus  as  to  become  one 
spiritual  personal  life  with  Him.  He  worked 
in  the  human  life  of  Jesus,  not  from  outside 
inwards,  not  by  leaps  and  bounds  and  inter- 
ruptedly as  in  us,  but  from  inside  outwards, 
revealing  Himself  in  Him  and  giving  His 
thoughts,  words,  and  actions  their  content  and 
goal.  All  that  the  man  Jesus  thought  and 
did  was  given  and  worked  by  God,  who  was 
one  with  Him.  Nay,  more.  He  could  not 
look  upon  His  thoughts  otherwise  than  as 
God's  thoughts ;  He  could  not  will  without 
the  consciousness  that  God  willed.  His  per- 
sonal life  was  for  Himself  the  life  of  God,  for 
God  was  the  hidden  source  in  His  soul  from 
which  went  forth  that  which  made  His  soul  a 
peculiar   soul.      To   prevent   theological   mis- 


THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       225 

understanding  it  may  be  mentioned  here  that 
Jesus  felt  Himself  in  His  personal  complete- 
ness, including  the  God-will  which  had  become 
His  will,  as  another,  a  second  in  relation  to 
the  Father.  His  Divine  personal  will  or  His 
Divine  personality  was  for  His  own  conscious- 
ness the  eternal  Son  of  the  Father  in  heaven. 
He  was  not  a  prophet  endowed  by  God,  accord- 
ing to  His  self-consciousness,  but  God,  as  the 
Father  and  with  the  Father.  The  Divine 
Person  in  Him  was  a  special  volition  in  relation 
to  the  volition  of  the  Father.  But  this  brings 
us  to  a  new  sphere,  the  thought  of  the  Divine 
Trinity,  to  which  we  must  return  later  on. 

And  yet  the  expression  and  effect  of  the 
Divine  presence  in  Jesus  during  His  earthly 
life  had  a  limit.  It  was  not,  as  with  us,  the 
limitation  of  sin ;  it  was  the  limitation  of 
human  nature  as  such.  The  empirical  sinful 
man  must  not  be  taken  as  the  measure  of 
man.  It  is  only  the  measure  of  the  idea  of 
humanity,  or  of  what   man  is   to  become  in 

eternity,  by  which  the   measure   of  the  man 

15 


226    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

Jesus  can  be  defined.  He,  as  man,  was  in  this 
world  what  we  hope  to  be  in  the  other  world, 
the  means  and  organ  of  God,  unlimited, 
marvellous,  and  boundless.  Thus  He  knew  the 
secrets  of  heaven,  which  remain  enigmas  to  us, 
and  He  possessed  powers  which  slip  from  our 
hands. 

So  the  authorities  of  the  day  became  small 
in  His  sight,  this  world  with  its  honour  and 
pleasure,  with  its  parties  and  its  great  ones. 
"  All  things  have  been  delivered  unto  Me  of 
my  Father  ;  and  no  man  knoweth  the  Son, 
save  the  Father ;  neither  doth  any  know  the 
Father,  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever 
the  Son  willeth  to  reveal  Him."  The  living 
God  and  the  eternal  truth  permeated  His  soul 
and  formed  its  content.  It  was  thus  that  He 
was  able  to  express  the  heavenly  in  earthly 
wise,  and  yet  it  remained  heavenly.  His 
thoughts  took  shape  on  the  small  and  finite, 
and  yet  they  were  infinite  and  eternal  in  their 
power  and  significance.  It  is  the  gift  of  the 
leading   spirits   in   the   history  of  religion  to 


THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        227 

express  the  unlimited  and  eternal  tersely, 
definitely,  and  so  as  to  be  intelligible  to  all. 
But  only  after  great  pains  have  they  attained 
to  this  capacity,  and  it  has  frequently  failed 
them  and  left  precisely  their  best  still  in  dark- 
ness. Jesus  possessed  it  without  limit  and 
without  struggle,  for  His  life  flowed  direct 
from  God  and  all  things  were  delivered  unto 
Him  of  the  Father.  On  that  account  the  laws 
of  nature  and  the  free  hearts  of  men  also  sub- 
mitted to  the  omnipotence  of  His  love.  So 
the  earth  became  the  footstool  of  His  feet  and 
heaven  His  throne.  So  He  became  the  Lord, 
and  the  world  entered  His  service.  So  legions 
of  angels  streamed  to  Him,  and  He  needed 
them  not.  So  He  felt  Himself  the  Lord  of 
men  till  the  last  day,  although  the  hatred  of 
men  drove  the  nails  through  His  hands  and  feet. 
So  far  as  Jesus  knows  and  feels  Himself  the 
organ  of  God,  His  Son,  He  is  Lord  of  the 
world,  for  the  world  is  God's  and  God  is  in 
Him.  He  Himself  is,  according  to  the  peculiar 
content  of  His  soul,  God.     And  again,  He  is 


228    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

God's  servant,  for  not  from  His  human  soul 
as  it  was  by  nature,  but  from  God,  came  the 
sovereignty  and  the  power. 

That  is  the  secret  of  the  soul  of  Jesus.  We 
understand  it,  though  we  have  but  a  dim 
presentiment  of  its  meaning,  for  we  never 
experience  it  as  He.  It  draws  us  to  Him, 
but  it  also  casts  us  at  His  feet ;  it  raises  us 
above  ourselves  in  subjecting  us  to  Him.  We 
receive  "  all "  in  Him,  but  we  receive  it  only 
through  Him. 

Now  we  understand  the  double  reference  in 
Jesus,  His  glory  and  His  humility.  He  was 
a  man  as  we  are,  and  God  dwelt  in  Him  and 
worked  in  Him  ;  we  experience  that  too.  But 
His  life  and  working  was  God's  life  and  work- 
ing, and  that  we  never  reach ;  for  He  is  the 
Lord  and  we  are  the  servants ;  He  is  the 
originator  and  we  are  the  followers  ;  He  is  God 
and  we  are  men  ;  He  had  it  and  we  strive  after 
it ;  but  only  through  Him  do  we  strive  after  it, 
and  only  from  Him  do  we  expect  it. 

One  thing  still  must  be  attended  to  in  this 


THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        229 

connection  :  the  significance  of  the  resurrection 
of  Christ.  In  the  New  Testament  sense  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  is  God's  seal  upon  His 
Ufe  and  work.  The  Jews  killed  Jesus,  but 
God  restored  Him  to  life  ;  they  decided  against 
Him,  and  they  were  stronger  than  He ;  but 
God  was  for  Him,  and  He  was  stronger  than 
they.  That  gives  mankind  the  certainty  that 
the  good  will  conquer  as  it  conquered  in  Jesus 
Christ.  If  Jesus  had  remained  in  death,  the 
decision  would  have  been  against  Him.  There 
was  no  means  in  those  days  to  show  His 
disciples.  His  opposers,  and  the  world  that 
Jesus  was  right  except  His  being  restored  to 
life.  He  who  serves  God  lives  eternally.  On 
that  account  Jesus  became  alive  again.  That 
is  a  miracle  ;  but  the  victory  of  the  good  is  the 
miracle  of  history,  however  different  the  forms 
of  this  victory  may  be.  That  Judaism  was 
wrong  and  Jesus  right  is  established  by  the 
resurrection.  Judaism  lived  to  die  and  Jesus 
died  to  live.  Life  is  God's  verdict  in  the 
struggle  of  the  opposing  forces  in  history. 


230    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

But  we  must  not  lose  ourselves  in  the 
details  of  dogmatics.  Here  we  must  be  con- 
tent with  the  result.  The  man  Jesus  was 
guided  by  God's  personal  will  in  every 
moment  and  in  every  activity.  Considering 
what  the  life  of  Jesus  was,  we  must  not  con- 
ceive God's  will  working  in  Him  merely  as  a 
kind  of  inspiration  which  comes  and  goes  and 
is  received  or  not.  The  union  with  God  was 
in  Jesus  a  lasting,  fixed,  and  natural  one.  The 
person  of  God  dwelt  in  Him  and  had  united 
itself  inseparably  with  the  human  volition  and 
feeling.  It  was  really  one  personal  life  that 
Jesus  lived.  The  determining  will  of  God 
became  every  moment  in  Him  human  self- 
determination,  which  never  came  about  other- 
wise than  as  the  effect  of  God's  operation. 
The  thoughts  He  had  were  God's  thoughts 
of  grace,  but  they  were  cast  in  the  historical 
forms  of  the  Israelitish  religion.  The  re- 
deeming sovereignty  of  God  over  the  world, 
for  example,  took  the  historical  form  of  the 
traditional   representation   of  the   working  of 


THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        231 

the  Messiah.  From  this  may  be  understood 
the  pecuhar  coincidence  of  clear,  strong  self- 
consciousness  and  the  feeling  of  "  must "  in 
the  soul  of  Jesus.  His  thoughts  sprang  from 
the  God  in  His  heart,  and  His  actions  came 
from  God  and  were  therefore  wrought  in 
His  power.  What  is  reported  of  them  is  not 
more  wonderful  than  His  words  are.  It  is 
the  words  of  Jesus  that  we  are  pointed  to 
first  nowadays.  Signs  must  be  seen  and  the 
force  of  them  felt ;  for  it  is  in  the  immediate 
impression  that  their  power  lies ;  the  words 
take  effect  to-day  as  they  did  centuries  ago. 
He  who  feels  in  them  the  wonderful  life  from 
God  knows  of  the  power  of  Jesus  over  the 
world.  He  who  reflects  further  will  see  that 
the  whole  life  of  Jesus  becomes  intelligible 
from  this  standpoint.  But  not  less  will  it  be 
clear  that  the  divinity  of  Christ  in  the  New 
Testament  sense  is  asserted  here.  Our  hypo- 
thesis has  verified  itself,  and  it  does  not  give 
us  less  of  the  divine  being  and  the  divine 
operation  of  Christ  than  the  Ancient  Church 


232    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

hypothesis  of  the  two  natures  as  it  is  usually 
expressed. 

Still  one  point  which  has  already  been 
referred  to  needs  explanation.  It  is  quite 
intelligible  how  the  human  consciousness  of 
Jesus  should  stand  out  in  opposition  to  the 
heavenly  Father.  But  Christ  continues  to 
exist  in  the  sphere  of  divine  glory,  and  is  co- 
ordinated with  the  Father  and  the  Spirit  as 
Son.  These  thoughts  are  not  later  dogmas, 
but  belong  to  primitive  Christianity.  The 
formula,  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit,  which  runs 
both  clearly  and  in  more  hidden  notes  through 
the  whole  New  Testament,  may  with  moral 
certainty  be  traced  back  to  Christ  Himself. 
And  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  in  this 
formula  the  conception  "Son  of  God "  had 
another  and  deeper  significance  than  in  the 
usual  application.  But  this  leads  to  a  further 
thought ;  it  seems  as  if  the  Divine  Being  of 
Christ  too  must  be  thought  of  somehow  as 
another  alongside  the  Father  and  different 
from   Him.      That   cannot   be   taken   in   the 


THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        233 

sense  of  a  demi-god,  nor  yet  as  establishing 
a  heavenly  family.  That  would  be  all 
mythology  and  unchristian  polytheism.  And 
all  the  sophisms  by  which  an  attempt  is  made 
to  show  that  three  can  at  the  same  time  be 
one,  must  be  put  aside  all  the  more,  whether 
elements,  or  parts  of  a  whole,  or  psychical 
functions,  are  thought  of. 

As  far  as  I  can  see,  another  way  must  be 
taken.  What  do  we  experience  of  God's 
personal  life  from  the  operation  of  Jesus 
Christ  ?  The  will  of  God  that  sinners  be  saved, 
and  that  there  be  a  communion  of  the  elect  in 
the  world.  But  when,  apart  from  the  con- 
sideration of  Christ,  we  look  around  us,  we 
find  the  same  almighty  will  operative  again 
in  nature,  as  also  in  the  natural  evolution  of 
mankind  therewith  connected :  God  wills 
that  the  world  exist  and  develop.  And  again, 
this  will  becomes  operative  in  us,  affecting  our 
heart  by  the  words  of  another,  as  the  personal 
will  that  the  individual  souls  in  their  particular 
situation    and     with    their    particular    needs 


234    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

become  God's  or  be  saved.  These  sentences, 
strictly  speaking,  comprehend  all  that  can  be 
predicated  of  God.  God  is  personal  Spirit  or 
rational  operative  will.  God  wills  that  the 
world  exist  and  develop ;  God  wills  a  history 
that  shall  lead  mankind  to  salvation,  or  the 
rise  and  growth  of  a  Church  ;  and  God  wills 
that  a  multitude  of  particular  individual  souls 
be  His. 

The  endless  range  of  the  Divine  working 
shows  itself  in  this  threefold  direction.  God 
does  nothing  further  than  the  work  of  realising 
these  three  volitional  acts — or  we  can  at  least 
say  nothing  of  anything  beyond  them. 

In  every  conscious  act  of  the  will  the  entire 
spiritual  person  goes  forth.  With  us  men  the 
different  acts  of  the  will  follow  each  other  in 
succession,  so  that  while  the  one  is  consciously 
operative,  the  other  sinks  back  into  the  sphere 
of  the  potential  or  the  unconscious.  But  for 
the  absolute  Divine  Being,  such  unconscious 
circumstances  are  simply  unthinkable.  So  in 
the  eternal   God   those   three   volitional  acts. 


THE  PERSON  OF  JESUS  CHRIST        235 

together  with  their  realisation,  are  eternally 
co-existent.  In  each  the  whole  Divine  Person 
goes  forth,  and  each  of  them  differentiates 
itself  in  virtue  of  its  particular  intention  and 
operation  from  the  others,  however  much  the 
effects  of  their  operation  coincide  and  are 
related  one  to  another.  It  is  the  one  God 
whom  Christendom  knows,  one  Person,  who 
reveals  Himself  as  the  threefold  Person.  It 
is  not  tradition  or  dialectic  skill  that  points 
us  to  this  way,  but  the  simple  reflection  of  the 
religious  perception.  Then  we  may  say  with 
the  Catechism,  "Jesus  Christ,  truly  God, 
begotten  of  the  Father  in  eternity,  and  also 
truly  man,  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  is  my 
Lord."  Christ  is  the  God  who  makes  the 
history  of  humanity  a  history  of  redemption, 
or  makes  humanity  a  Church ;  and  again.  He 
is  the  historical  man  into  whom  this  personal 
will  of  God  entered,  who  made  it  the  content 
of  His  life,  and  has  introduced  it  as  historically 
operative  power  into  the  life  of  humanity. 
Thus,  then,  the  question  which  led  to  this 


236    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

discussion  is  answered.  It  was  the  eternal 
will  of  God  for  the  salvation  of  man  which 
created  and  formed  the  man  Jesus  as  its  organ, 
and  through  Him  realised  the  eternal  decree 
that  a  Church  should  exist.  This  will  was 
before  the  man  Jesus,  and  it  continues  to  exist 
so  long  as  there  is  a  history  or  a  humanity  in 
need  of  salvation.  It  became  manifest  to 
mankind  in  Christ ;  it  was  the  "  divinity  of 
Christ";  and  its  continuance  justifies  us  in  the 
confession  that  Jesus  Christ  "  lives  and  reigns 
to  all  eternity."  Now,  if  one  should  ask  what 
has  become  of  the  human  soul  of  Jesus,  or  how 
it  is  constituted  at  present,  or  where  it  is  now, 
we  should  answer,  it  is  in  God  and  God  is  in 
it ;  but  with  regard  to  the  particular  psychical 
and  physical  mode  of  existence  of  Jesus' 
humanity,  we  must  confess  that  that  is  beyond 
the  limits  of  human  knowledge. 

The  effects  produced  reveal  the  being  to  us. 
Whether  what  has  been  said  of  Christ's  being 
is  tenable  will  show  itself  in  the  next  lecture, 
when  Christ's  work  will  be  discussed. 


LECTURE  XIII 

The  Work  of  Christ 

The  subject  of  the  last  lecture  was  Christ. 
The  personal  Divine  will  for  the  salvation  of 
mankind  became  manifest  and  operative  in 
the  man  Jesus.  Jesus  Christ  was  God  and 
man. 

Now,  the  further  question  arises,  whether 
this  result  finds  confirmation  in  the  working 
of  Jesus.  It  is  not  our  intention  to  seek  for 
purely  theoretical  thoughts  such  as  might  be 
of  interest  to  the  historian  or  the  philosopher  ; 
we  wish  to  understand  Christ,  as  the  plain 
Christian  perceives  Him  on  account  of  the 
loving-kindness  of  Christ  which  he  has  experi- 
enced. Only  those  thoughts  of  Christ  are 
necessary  which  can  be  shown  to  be  necessary 

237 


238    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

from  His  work.     Thus  He  worked  ;  hence  He 
must  have  been  correspondingly  constituted. 

The  question  as  to  the  work  of  Christ  has 
all  along  found  two  answers.  Christ  char- 
acterised Himself  as  the  revelation  of  God : 
"No  man  knoweth  the  Father,  save  the  Son, 
and  he  to  whomsoever  the  Son  willeth  to 
reveal  Him."  "  He  that  hath  seen  Me  hath 
seen  the  Father."  He  is  the  way,  the  truth, 
and  the  life  for  sinners.  But  the  Good 
Shepherd  gives  His  life  too  for  the  sheep. 
'*  I  am  not  come  to  be  ministered  unto,  but 
to  minister,  and  to  give  My  life  a  ransom  for 
many."  The  purpose  of  His  blood  or  His 
violent  death  is  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  Christ 
reveals  God  to  us  and  leads  us  thereby  to 
God,  and  He  gives  His  life  for  us  and  makes 
us  thereby  well  -  pleasing  and  righteous  in 
God's  sight.  He  works  from  God  upon  us, 
and  He  works  from  us  upon  God.  Christ  is 
the  founder  of  the  "  New  Covenant."  That 
is  no  indefinite  thought,  but  has,  according 
to  Jer.  xxxi.    31,  a  double,  precisely   defined 


THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST  239 

content :  it  was  the  programme  of  Jesus' 
working.  God  will  write  His  will  inwardly  in 
men's  hearts,  and  He  will  forgive  them  their 
sins.  That  is  the  "New  Testament"  in 
opposition  to  the  Old  Covenant.  There  God 
commanded  through  outward  precepts ;  here 
He  transforms  the  hearts  inwardly  according 
to  His  will  and  forgives  sin.  In  the  New 
Covenant  God  realises  His  sovereignty. 

So  it  has  remained.  Both  thoughts  meet 
us  constantly  in  the  New  Testament,  and  they 
have  never  died  out  in  the  history  of  Christianity. 
We  continually  hear  the  new  lawgiver,  the 
teacher  and  prophet  praised  who  has  brought 
us  the  divine  life ;  and  we  hear  the  thankful 
confession  that  He  offered  Himself  to  God  in 
our  stead  for  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins. 

As  a  rule  both  thoughts  are  combined,  but 
it  has  also  been  possible  for  them  to  stand  in 
relative  opposition  to  each  other,  as  may  be 
seen  already  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Anselm 
conceived  of  Christ's  work  as  the  vicarious 
satisfaction  which  had  to  be  offered  to  God  as 


240    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

the  insulted  Lord,  in  order  to  secure  His 
forgiveness  for  sins.  But  in  opposition  to  him, 
Abelard  taught  that  Christ  was  the  revelation 
of  God's  love,  which  awakes  responsive  love 
in  us. 

Both  views  have  remained  till  the  present 
day.  Theologians'  criticism  of  the  one  or  the 
other,  and  the  various  attempts  to  unite  them, 
do  not  interest  us  here.  Let  us  try  to  come 
to  an  understanding  of  the  matter. 

Our  standpoint  cannot  be  taken  anywhere 
else  than  in  the  soul  of  the  Christian  of  to-day. 
What  does  he  experience  in  Christ,  what  does 
Christ  become  to  him  ? 

This  question  is  for  the  present  very  easy  to 
answer.  Many  voices  have  been  heard  in  our 
soul,  and  they  have  brought  forth  in  us  much 
that  is  great  and  good.  But  one  voice  made 
the  other  dumb,  and  one  authority  overpowered 
the  other,  hence  none  could  captivate  our  in- 
most heart  for  ever.  Then  a  historical  form 
arose  before  our  soul.  Simple  and  clear  was 
what   it   bore   witness  of  to  us,  and  what  it 


THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST  241 

became  to  us.     But  it  was  not  the  clearness 

of  the  reasons,  not  the  simplicity  of  the  claims 

that   captivated   us.      From   this   form   there 

came  home  to  our  heart  the  power  of  personal 

life,  a  strong,  almighty  will,  the  holy  power  of 

love.     This  will  laid  hold  on  us  and  subdued 

us.     It  would  have   us,   therefore   we   would 

have    it.      Jesus    Christ   became   for   us   the 

absolute  fixed  authority  which  ever  again  drove 

us  to  the  experience,  "Lord,  to  whom  shall 

we  go  ?     Thou  hast  the  words  of  eternal  life." 

He  became  our  Lord,  and  in  Him  we  came  to 

know  the  sovereignty  of  God.     That  is  what 

is  new  in  Christ.     There  was    much  in  His 

teaching  that  was  known  before.     The  ruling 

divine   power    of    His   person   was   the   new 

element. 

That  is   the  experience  of  the  divinity  of 

Christ.      He   and   He   alone   among   all  the 

figures   and   powers   of  life   constrains  us  to 

faith  and  love.     We  accept  what  He  says  to 

us,  what  He  gives  us  and  what  He  becomes 

to  us,  and  thereby  we  are  inwardly  freed  to 

16 


242    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

follow  Him,  to  make  His  goal  ours,  to  love 
God  and  the  brethren  with  holy,  eternal  love. 
That  He  is  the  Lord  and  exercises  divine  sway 
over  us  we  experience  in  faith,  and  that  His 
goal,  or  the  Kingdom  of  God,  is  the  only  really 
precious  good  we  prove — through  His  power, 
and  because  He  actuates  us  to  it — in  love. 
Jesus  Christ  is  holy  Spirit.  Since  He  pene- 
trates the  heart  and  subdues  us,  we  become 
free  from  the  world  and  from  ourselves,  and  it 
is  then  we  feel  ourselves  in  the  sphere  of  life, 
upon  the  heights  of  our  existence. 

Perhaps  that  sounds  cold  and  abstract,  but 
yet  it  sums  up  in  itself  the  whole  of  the 
marvellous  riches  of  Jesus'  will  and  Jesus'  life. 
We  think  on  His  words  about  the  Father  in 
heaven,  on  the  blessed  freedom  from  care 
which  the  birds  of  heaven  and  the  lilies  of  the 
field  proclaim.  We  think  on  His  promises  of 
protection  to  believers,  and  of  judgment  which 
shall  finally  procure  right  for  them.  We  call 
to  mind  His  warning  not  to  fear  those  who 
can  kill  the  body,  but  have  no  power  over  the 


THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST  243 

soul,  and  the  spirit  of  victory  in  which  He  met 
death  and  triumphed  over  it.  What  else  does 
all  this  tell  us  but  the  great  truth  that  God 
is  for  us  and  therefore  all  things  must  work 
together  for  our  good  ?  That  is  the  faith  which 
embraces  thousand  circumstances  and  is  ex- 
perienced in  all  possible  dispensations  and 
arrangements  of  life's  path,  and  which  is  still 
only  the  one  great  experience,  namely,  God  is 
our  God ;  God  is  for  us,  therefore  we  have 
peace  in  spite  of  sin  and  guilt ;  God  is  the 
power  of  our  life,  therefore  we  must  succeed. 

We  realise  all  the  glorious  words,  many  of 
which  were  difficult  before,  but  now  have 
become  easy :  the  admonition  to  follow  Him 
and  leave  all  else,  to  strive  after  the  kingdom 
alone,  to  love  our  fellow-men,  even  our  enemies, 
to  give  ourselves  heart  and  soul  and  all  we 
have  to  their  service.  We  call  to  mind  the 
exposition  of  the  old  law  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.  We  remember  the  words  about  God, 
who  makes  His  sun  to  rise  upon  the  just  and 
the  unjust.   We  remember  the  prayer  of  Christ 


244    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

for  His  enemies,  His  humble  service  for  sinners 
— who  would  not  have  a  rich  life  to  live  on 
all  that,  and  who  would  not  feel  how  great 
and  pure  the  soul  becomes  that  really  follows 
Christ  ?  But  what  else  do  all  these  thoughts 
impress  upon  us  than  the  simple,  great  truth 
that  our  life  is  for  God,  and,  since  for  God,  for 
the  brethren  also  ?  It  is  love.  "  We  love, 
because  He  first  loved  us.  If  any  man  say, 
1  love  God,  and  hateth  his  brother,  he  is  a 
liar  ;  for  he  that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom 
he  hath  seen,  how  can  he  love  God  whom  he 
hath  not  seen  ?  And  this  commandment  have 
we  from  Him,  that  he  who  loveth  God  love 
his  brother  also." 

That  is  what  Christ  proclaimed  :  God  is  for 
us,  therefore  all  things  serve  us ;  and  we  are 
for  God,  therefore  we  serve  all.  And  this  is 
the  task  He  lays  upon  us,  not  as  a  law  or  a 
theoretical  doctrine,  but  as  a  gift  which  we 
experience,  feel,  and  have  in  the  coming  of 
God's  sovereignty  over  us.  Sovereignty  and 
faith,  Kingdom  and  love  -that  is  the  essence  of 


THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST  245 

Christianity  as  Christ  proclaimed  it  and  as  He 
has  made  it  manifest  to  us,  attainable,  effica- 
cious, and  real. 

Because  He  exercises  God's  sovereignty  in 
our  heart  and  thereby  brings  us  to  faith ;  and 
because  He  shows  us  the  Kingdom  of  God 
and  thereby  leads  us  to  love ;  because  He 
produces  spirituality  in  us  and  directs  us  to 
the  divine,  He  is  our  Lord  and  we  pray  to 
Him — and  we  know  that  prayer  can  be  made 
only  to  God — we  submit  our  souls  to  Him 
with  all  the  powers  and  gifts  we  have.  No 
one  would  do  that,  and  no  one  could  acknow- 
ledge such  an  action  if  he  had  not  experienced 
and  felt  that  Christ  leads  him  to  the  summit 
of  creation,  that  He  makes  us  what  God 
intended  us  to  be. 

It  is  this  experience  that  leads  us  to  the 
confession  of  the  divinity  of  Christ.  He  has 
worked  as  God,  for  what  He  has  produced  in 
us  is  divine. 

But  let  us  turn  now  to  the  other  question, 
namely,  the   meaning   of  the   human   life   of 


246    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

Christ  for  our  salvation.  That  leads  us  to  the 
question  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  What 
Jeremiah  says  of  the  new  covenant  has  to  do 
not  only  with  the  new  rehgious  and  moral  life 
in  the  heart,  but  also  with  the  forgiveness  of 
sins. 

There  can  be  no  religious  faith  which  does 
not  at  the  same  time  include  the  consciousness 
of  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  We  are  sinners, 
and  the  higher  our  soul  rises  in  the  service  of 
Christ,  the  clearer  do  we  see  the  sin  in  us ;  the 
more  His  spirit  penetrates  us,  the  more  rest- 
lessly do  the  impulses  of  sin  and  the  lusts  of 
the  world  revive  in  us.  No  one  lives  in  com- 
munion with  Christ  without  becoming  more 
sensible  of  the  number  and  heinousness  of  his 
sins  and  of  the  depth  of  his  guilt  than  before. 

But  in  this  communion  there  is  a  wonderful 
element.  We  regularly  exercise  a  judgment 
on  self  which  we  characterise  as  the  activity  of 
conscience.  In  communion  with  Christ  we 
see  and  condemn  our  sins  most  strictly  and  yet 
at  the  same  time  we  feel  them  forgiven.     We 


THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST  247 

can  remain  glad  and  blessed  on  the  heights,  if 
we  believe  in  Christ,  in  spite  of  our  sin  and  its 
baseness. 

How  is  that  possible  ?  How  can  He  who 
quickens  our  consciousness  of  sin  at  the  same 
time  remove  it  ?  How  can  He  in  whose  light 
we  first  know  sin  give  us  the  certainty  of  its 
forgiveness  ? 

A  great  paradox  opens  to  our  thought. 
The  holy  God,  whom  the  sinner  cannot  per- 
ceive— for  sin  tears  the  soul  away  from  the 
preception  of  God ;  it  makes  godless  or  looses 
from  God — wills  to  be  the  sinner's  God.  And 
the  holy  and  sinless  Christ  gives  us  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  grace. 
And  further,  precisely  with  those  things  which 
human  sin  and  wickedness  did  to  Christ,  the 
Righteous,  is  connected  for  Christendom  in  all 
ages  the  consciousness  of  forgiveness.  What 
is  absurd  and  contradictory  cannot  be  believed, 
hence  Christendom  always  strives  to  reach  an 
explanation  of  this  fact,  and  faith  itself  demands 
such  an  explanation.     We  give  expression  to 


248    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

the  thoughts  of  faith  while  we  seek  to  under- 
stand them. 

If  through  Jesus  Christ  the  relation  between 
God  and  man  has  become  a  new  one,  so  that 
we  have  in  Him  the  forgiveness  we  did  not 
have  before,  then  something  must  have  hap- 
pened in  the  history  of  man  through  Christ 
which  explains  this  change.  And  certainly  a 
new  element  has  made  its  appearance,  a  new 
principle  has  been  introduced  into  history. 

There  was  a  man  who  stood  in  the  midst  of 
the  sinful  world,  who  felt  all  its  allurements 
and  temptations — for  He  was  "in  all  points 
tempted  like  as  we  are" — who  tasted  all  the 
threatenings  and  terrors,  all  the  sufferings  and 
grief,  which  are   consequences   of  sin,  to  the 
uttermost,  the  death  of  the  innocently  con- 
demned, the  bitterness  of  feeUng  Himself  for- 
saken of  God  ;  and  this  man  remained — in  all 
that,  and  in  spite  of  all  that,  in  the  "  world  " 
and  in  opposition  to  the  "  world  " — faithful  to 
God  ;  He  remained  the  organ  of  the  Divine 
will.     The  world  spared  Him  nothing ;  it  ex- 


THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST  249 

hausted    its    wickedness    on    Him,    but    He 
remained  God's,  and  His  love  failed  not. 

That  was  not  something  self-evident — there 
had  never  been  the  like — and  it  was  no  small 
thing,  because  it  happened  in  a  far-off  corner 
of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  not  in  Rome ; 
because  it  is  not  the  formula?  of  philosophy 
and  the  forms  of  earthly  power  that  attached 
themselves  to  it,  but  the  faith  and  love  of 
simple  souls.  It  was  something  vast,  with 
which  nothing,  absolutely  nothing,  in  the  his- 
tory of  mankind  can  be  compared.  The  soul 
of  man  decides  over  the  course  of  history,  and 
not  philosophy  or  the  state.  What  prophets 
had  prophesied,  what  poets  and  thinkers  had 
in  imagination  dreamed  and  demanded — and 
whatever  had  been  was  like  a  wondrous  melody 
that  came,  but  passed  again,  as  if  in  the  sighing 
of  the  wind — became  reality  in  one  human  soul. 
It  is  possible  to  serve  God  in  the  midst  of 
worldly  affairs ;  it  is  possible  to  keep  the  soul 
great  and  pure  in  the  midst  of  the  pleasure 
and  pain  of  mankind.     In  those  days  in  Galilee 


250    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

and  Jerusalem  a  new  human  type  was  created, 
a  miracle  was  performed,  to  which  no  other  can 
be  even  distantly  compared,  something  became 
real  before  which  all  the  great  deeds  of  the 
mind  dissolve  into  nothing. 

The  life  of  Jesus,  and  that  His  human 
personal  life — that  is  the  all-important  point 
here — was  this  miracle  and  this  new  creation. 
Humanity  had  again  become  the  organ  of  God, 
and  precious  to  Him ;  its  existence  had  again 
received  a  meaning  in  the  existence  of  the 
world,  and  thereby  it  had  justified  its  right  to 
exist ;  it  disturbs  no  more  God's  w^orld-plan — 
that  there  be  a  good  humanity  that  shall  serve 
Him,  and  consciously  further  the  highest  end, 
— but  applies  itself  to  it  and  serves  it. 

But  did,  then,  such  a  humanity  exist  ?  Was 
there  not  only  a  wonderful  man,  an  ideal  that 
could  become  real  on  account  of  the  particular 
and  unique  relation  of  Him  who  held  it  to 
God,  an  ideal  that  could  be  attained  by  no 
other,  and  which  precisely  on  that  account 
repels  and  condemns  the  rest  of  mankind  all 


THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST  251 

the  more,  and  shows  thek  worthlessness  and 
purposelessness  ? 

This  leads  back  to  the  former  train  of 
thought.  This  man  was  no  far-off,  Hfeless 
ideal ;  He  possessed  the  divine  power  of  binding 
human  hearts  to  Himself,  and  subjecting  them 
to  His  mind  and  purpose.  Kant  characterised 
Christ  as  the  *'  ideal  of  a  humanity  well-pleasing 
in  the  sight  of  God."  That  is  not  enough. 
This  ideal  lived,  and  in  it  was  the  almighty 
power  of  God.  Christ  changed  mankind  and 
drew  them  after  Him,  for  He  was  able  to  give 
them  faith  and  love. 

So  in  Him  stood  the  new  humanity  in  the 
old  world  before  the  eyes  of  God  and  the  eyes 
of  the  world,  and  through  Him  it  was  guaran- 
teed that  this  new  humanity  is  being  realised, 
for  He  binds  men  to  Himself  and  makes  them 
followers  of  Him  in  His  path. 

That  was  God's  way  of  redeeming  man.  It 
has  now  to  be  considered  somewhat  more 
minutely.  The  revelation  of  God  shows  its 
eternity  in  being  power  for  all  men,  since  all 


252    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

ages  can  understand  it.  It  does  not  concern 
us  whether  this  way  of  redemption  was  "  in 
itself"  necessary  for  God,  but  why  it  was 
necessary  for  man ;  for  only  thereby  was  it 
necessary  for  God.  The  way  of  redemption  is 
the  way  of  the  cross  of  Christ.  In  that,  all 
New  Testament  books  are  at  one.  But  the 
cross  of  Christ  teaches  us  to  know  the  greatness 
of  the  love  of  God,  who  gives  up  the  one  Just 
One  to  death  for  the  redemption  of  many. 
But  the  cross  of  Christ  also  brings  home  to  us 
the  holy  earnestness  of  God,  who  forgives  the 
guilt  of  sin  only  when  the  break  with  evil  is 
made  certain.  The  cross  of  Christ  is  the  high- 
est expression  of  the  love  of  God,  and  the 
heaviest  judgment  on  the  sin  of  mankind.  Not 
only  the  former,  but  also  the  latter  had  to  be 
learned  by  mankind.  The  love  of  God  had  to  be 
experienced  together  with  His  holy  earnestness ; 
blessedness  had  to  be  apprehended  together 
with  horror  of  sin.  It  was  only  so  that  re- 
demption advanced  beyond  emotion  of  soul  to 
peace  of  conscience  ;  only  so  could  the  certainty 


THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST  253 

of  forgiveness  of  sins  take  its  place  in  the  new 
life ;  only  so  could  redemption  still  the  depths 
of  moral  feehng.  Jesus  Christ  breaks  the 
power  of  sin  in  us  through  the  divine  power  of 
His  holy  Spirit,  and  He  overcomes  the  con- 
sciousness of  guilt  in  us  through  His  holy 
humanity  proved  true  on  the  cross.  In  the 
first  He  works  as  God  upon  us ;  in  the  last  as 
man  for  us  men  upon  God.  There  we  perceive 
Him  to  be  God's  prophet  and  king,  here  to  be 
our  high  priest. 

But  it  is  this  second  point  that  calls  for 
attention  here.  A  historical  individual  has 
consummated  the  breach  with  the  world  and 
sin — it  is  the  last  burden  of  our  soul — and 
asserted  it,  bidding  defiance  to  all  pleasure  and 
pain  of  the  world.  This  man  was  the  new 
humanity,  the  "  second  Adam,"  as  Paul  says. 
He  represents  in  Himself — concrete  and  visible, 
sensible  to  hearts  and  calling  them  to  follow — 
the  new,  holy  humanity  to  man,  which  through 
the  Spirit  overcomes  the  world.  But  mankind 
saw  also  in  His  figure  man  as  he  is  accepted 


254    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

before  God.  And  nowhere  did  that  come  so 
impressively  and  powerfully  to  light  as  in  His 
sufferings.  Even  when  He  felt  Himself  for- 
saken of  God,  He  remained  faithful  to  Him ; 
even  when  the  bitter  cup  of  suffering  was  put 
into  His  hands,  He  continued  faithfully  in  His 
service  for  the  brethren.  He  bore  sufferings 
for  them  which  He  had  not  deserved,  and  He 
did  for  them  what  they  did  not  do.  In  that 
way  He  is  their  representative  and  their  surety 
before  God.  The  man  who  is  accepted  before 
God,  became  our  brother  and  surety  even 
unto  death.  And  God  recognised  Him  as 
such  through  the  resurrection  from  the  dead. 
On  that  account  there  grew  out  of  His  life  and 
sufferings  the  view  that  He  "stands  in  our 
stead  "  before  God,  and  that  through  Him  we, 
with  our  God-opposing,  sinful  nature,  are 
"covered"  before  God,  or  that  He  is  the 
atoner  for  our  sin,  and  that  God  sees  us  as 
"  righteous  "  in  Him,  and  forgives  our  sin. 

Is  this  view  unwarranted  ?     It  is  at  once 
unwarranted  when  taken  as  if  there  were  no 


THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST  255 

spiritual  connection  between  us  and  Christ. 
But  this  connection  is  present  in  faith,  as  we 
have  seen.  And  again,  it  is  unwarranted  when 
Christ's  work  is  looked  on  as  if  it  were  a  human 
invention — magic  in  the  sublimest  sense — to 
"  incline  God  in  our  favour."  It  was  God 
Himself  who  sent  Christ  and  determined  Him 
for  this  work — the  cup  of  suffering  which  He 
drank  was  given  Him  by  the  Father,  His 
suifering  was  a  necessity — and  Christ  works 
upon  God  so  far  as  God  lets  Himself  be  worked 
upon  for  our  salvation.  Jesus  Christ,  in  fact, 
atoned  for  our  sin  and  represented  us  before 
God.  The  work  of  Christ  may  be  summed 
up  in  the  two  conceptions  of  vicarious  atone- 
ment and  vicarious  surety.  The  former  de- 
mands His  full  humanity;  the  latter  takes 
place  through  the  power  and  certainty  of  His 
divine  life.  Under  the  oppression  of  all  the 
powers  of  sin  and  suffering  He  remained  the 
new,  ideal  man  who  is  precious  in  God's  sight, 
and  who  furthers  God's  design  with  all  His 
power.     Thereby  He  made  atonement  for  our 


^56    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

sill  before  God  and  our  conscience.  Through 
Him  and  in  Him  we  have  again  become  God's — 
His  property,  a  people  ready  to  serve  Him. 
But  we  could  never  really  become  so  unless 
His  divine  power  brought  us  back  to  God  and 
subdued  us  to  Him.  And  it  is  precisely  thereby 
that  Christ  becomes  our  vicarious  surety.  He 
who  atones  for  the  sin  of  mankind  is  at  the 
same  time  their  surety  with  God.  And  now 
our  heart  may  be  certain  that  in  Christ,  and 
in  virtue  of  our  inward  connection  with  Him, 
we  really  have  forgiveness  of  our  sins,  are 
graciously  accepted  by  God,  and  live  in  a  new 
relation  of  reconciliation  and  under  a  new 
covenant.  It  is  henceforth  no  illusive  repre- 
sentation to  say,  God  demands  thee  for  His 
property  again,  and  He  forgives  thee  thy  sin. 
The  historical  fact  of  the  holy  obedience  of 
Christ  in  the  realm  and  world  of  sinners,  and 
the  fact  of  His  power  over  our  heart  make 
that  great  offer  of  grace  intelligible  and  real  to 
us.  He  has  upheld  what  is  good  and  righteous 
in  humanity,  and  draws  us  on  to  follow  in  His 


THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST  257 

path.  So  we  understand,  and  can  believe  with 
pure,  clear  conscience,  we  really  become  God's 
property  again ;  the  Holy  One  again  accepts 
us  ;  the  Righteous  One  forgives  us  ;  for  Christ 
atoned  for  our  sin,  and  He  is  surety  for  our 
new  life.  The  old  has  truly  passed  away,  and 
all  things  have  become  new  through  Jesus 
Christ,  our  Lord. 

Every  great  and  good  life  has  in  its  own 
way  such  a  vicarious  meaning,  it  makes 
atonement,  and  it  stands  surety.  The  in- 
fluence of  a  man's  good  aim  enhances  the 
worth  of  his  whole  surrounding — of  his  family, 
his  colleagues,  etc.  And  if  such  a  man  suffers 
from  his  surrounding  for  following  the  good, 
the  victorious  power  of  the  good  that  is  thereby 
established  acts  as  an  atonement,  and,  like  a 
protecting  cover,  covers  the  sin  of  his  perse- 
cutors, for  the  power  of  the  good  has  become 
manifest  and  been  maintained  in  opposition  to 
wickedness.  The  good  has  conquered,  in  spite 
of  outward  defeat,  and  it  becomes  the  surety 

for  the  final  subjection  of  all  under  its  power. 

17 


258    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

Since  Jesus  Christ,  the  Righteous,  endured 
all  sufferings  without  wavering  in  His  right- 
eousness, He  confirmed  the  power  of  the  good 
and  made  atonement  thereby,  in  His  suffering 
and  death,  for  the  sin  of  humanity. 

That  is  why  the  cross  stands  at  the  middle 
point  of  the  Christian  religion.  On  that 
account  the  tempted  and  the  suffering,  the 
living  and  the  dying  find  their  comfort  above 
all  in  the  suffering  and  death,  the  blood  and 
wounds  of  Christ.  That  Jesus  endured  even 
to  the  cross  shows  that  He  really  wills  to  re- 
deem us.  That  on  the  cross  He  remained 
faithful  to  the  Father,  shows  that  He  can 
redeem  us.  The  cross  is  the  sign  of  the  un- 
yielding power  of  the  good  in  the  most  dreadful 
hour  of  wickedness  and  pain.  It  is  the  atone- 
ment for  the  sin  of  mankind. 

To  sum  up,  Jesus  Christ  subdues  men's 
hearts  to  Himself  in  faith.  He  is  the  perfect 
man,  who  represents  the  race  before  God  and 
makes  atonement  for  the  sin  of  mankind, 
standing  as  their  surety  with  His  divine  power. 


THE  WORK  or  CHRIST  259 

So  Christ  becomes  our  Lord,  who  subdues  us 
to  God  through  faith  and  breaks  sin  in  us,  and 
who,  through  the  vision  of  His  atoning  pure 
humanity,  assures  us  of  real  and  lasting  for- 
giveness of  our  sin. 

Nothing  can  then  be  so  absurd  as  the 
assertion  that  the  beginning  of  the  new  life 
in  us,  the  germs  of  our  merits,  is  the  ground 
of  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  The  ground  is 
Christ  alone,  that  Christ  who  has  reahsed  in 
Himself  the  new  humanity  and  made  us 
members  of  it  through  the  power  of  His 
love. 

I  know  these  thoughts  are  different  from 
the  popular  theories,  but  I  am  convinced  that 
they  lose  no  religious  possession  when  com- 
pared with  the  current  conception,  where  the 
wrath  of  God  is  represented  as  so  strictly,  and 
with  such  just  exactness  appeased  through  the 
vicarious  suffering  of  Christ,  through  His 
sacrifice,  that  God  had  to  forgive.  These 
thoughts  are  liable  to  attack  at  too  many 
points  to   give  satisfaction.     (1)  God  appears 


260    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

here  to  be  thought  of  as  a  changeable  Being 
who  is  at  one  time  angry,  at  another  time 
loves.  (2)  That  God  Himself  sends  Christ 
out  of  love  is  not  clear.  (3)  The  ancient 
idea  of  the  "  suffering  God  "  plays  a  part,  in 
an  infinite  equivalent  being  offered  for  an 
"  infinite  sin."  But  it  is  only  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  this  painful  integral  calculus 
can  be  worked  out,  and  it  does  not  tally  for 
all  that.  The  idea  of  the  "suffering  God," 
though  profound  in  itself,  purports  that  Deity 
so  stoops  to  mankind  as  to  have  a  fellow- 
feeling  with  suffering.  But  that  is  only  a 
pious  way  of  thinking,  which  cannot  be  applied 
strictly,  because  it  makes  God  changeable  and 
dependent  on  the  creature.  (4)  The  concep- 
tion of  sacrifice  in  this  theory  is  taken  from 
heathen  religiousness ;  here  the  idea  of  the 
deus  platacus  and  the  power  of  the  offering 
to  change  God's  intention,  are  at  home.  But 
that  is  certainly  not  the  biblical  conception 
of  sacrifice.  (5)  Finally,  the  whole  theory 
oscillates  between  two  different  stages  of  re- 


THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST  261 

ligion ;  at  first  religion  is  thought  of  as  a 
legal  relation  after  the  manner  of  the  morality 
religion  (f .  p.  15),  then  as  a  redemptive  religion. 
A  different  conception  of  God  and  religion 
are  alternately  applied.  But  to  understand 
the  Christian  religion  we  must  start  from  the 
Christian  thought  of  God.  It,  too,  certainly 
includes  the  strict  righteousness  of  God  over 
against  sin,  but  never  on  that  account  looks 
on  God's  relation  to  the  world  as  an  abstract 
legal  relation. 

Let  us,  however,  return  to  the  thoughts 
developed  above.  But  if  men  will  apply 
the  idea  of  sacrifice  to  Christ — in  the  New 
Testament  that  is  done  only  in  one  of  the 
latest  writings,  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
with  a  special  apologetic  aim, — the  connecting 
link  must  naturally  be  sought  in  the  biblical 
idea  of  sacrifice  as  given  in  the  Old  Testament. 
But  Old  Testament  sacrifice  represents,  in  its 
deepest  significance,  a  gift  from  man  to  God, 
which  pictures  the  giving  up  of  self  to  God, 
and   it   is   an   ordinance  which   God  Himself 


262    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

graciously  bestows  upon  sinners,  an  ordinance 
not  to  *' cover"  God's  wrath,  as  the  heathen 
conception  is,  but  to  cover  the  sin  of  mankind. 
In  this  sense  Jesus  Christ  is  the  offering  of 
mankind  which  is  brought  to  God,  and  which 
God   accepts   and    approves    for    forgiveness, 
because   He   has   determined   it  thereto.      If 
the  thought  of  sacrifice,  in  this  its  only  possible 
biblical  sense,  be  applied  to  the  work  of  Christ, 
it   corresponds   fully   with    the    view   of    the 
meaning   of  Christ's   death,  which   has    been 
developed   above.      So   it   is    quite    right   to 
speak  of  redemption  through  Christ's  sacrifice 
so   long   as   it   is  clearly   understood  what   is 
thereby    meant.      But    the    thoughtless    and 
ignorant   manner   in   which   a    conception   of 
sacrifice,  which  quite  clearly  arises   from   the 
vulgar   ideas  which   come   from  Paganism,  is 
first  formed  and  then  declared  the  norm  for 
the  understanding  of  the  work  of  Christ,  must 
be  decidedly  rejected.     Since  such  suggestions 
can  be  only  too  easily  united  with  the   con- 
ception of  sacrifice,  seeing  it  is  no  more  current 


THE  WORK  OF  CHRIST  263 

nowadays,  it  would  be  wise  to  employ  it  only 
cautiously. 

The  objection  might  be  raised  against  our 
view  that  it,  too,  represents  God  as  changeable. 
But  the  coming  of  Christ  realises,  as  we  under- 
stand it,  an  eternal  decision  of  the  Will,  which, 
for  the  sake  of  man,  entered  into  the  reality 
of  the  world  at  a  particular  point  of  time,  when 
humanity  had  become  ripe  to  understand  it. 
It  is  not  God  who  is  changed  through  Christ's 
atoning  work,  but  through  Christ  God  changes 
the  relation  that  exists  between  Him  and 
mankind  by  putting  the  change  in  forms 
which  can  be  understood.  To  that  end  Christ 
died  for  us. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that  our 
knowledge  of  the  person  of  Christ  is  con- 
firmed through  the  consideration  of  His  work. 
The  effects  of  this  work  on  the  history  of 
mankind  and  on  the  human  soul,  and  how 
they  are  constituted,  remain  to  be  further 
investigated. 


LECTURE  XIV 

The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 

The  entrance  of  Jesus  Christ  into  the  history 
of  the  civiUsed  world  has  divided  it  into  two 
camps.  "  I  came  to  cast  fire  upon  the  earth  ; 
and  what  will  I  if  it  is  already  kindled  ? " 
"  1  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword." 
The  one  party  is  for  Him,  the  other  against 
Him.  The  one  receives  from  Him  a  new, 
exalted  existence  and  forgiveness  of  sins — the 
new  covenant ;  the  other  throws  aside  the  new 
covenant  for  divers  reasons  and  unreasons. 

Jesus  Christ  is  a  phenomenon  in  the  world's 
history ;  His  life  is  a  new  operative  principle. 
The  content  of  His  life  was  the  Divine  will 
that  a  humanity  arise  which  should  serve  God 
in  faith  and  love.     This  will  has  been  realised 

264 


THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       265 

in  the  Christian  Church.  His  life  and  His 
will  produce  the  Church  and  give  it  life ;  He 
moves  and  upholds  it.  This  was  recognised 
by  the  Apostle  Paul,  and  this  recognition 
belongs  to  the  greatest  of  his  thoughts. 
There  existed  a  number  of  Christian  Churches, 
far  apart  from  each  other,  without  common 
organisation  or  constitution,  without  conscious 
and  concerted  community  of  aims  of  action. 
It  was  not  temporal  bands,  not  human  strength 
that  bound  them  together.  They  glowed  like 
lights  here  and  there  on  a  broad  dark  land- 
scape. But  the  prophetic  eye  of  the  Apostle 
saw  in  them  a  unity ;  he  saw  the  mighty  con- 
flagration in  which  the  old  world  passes  away, 
and  out  of  which  a  new  world  arises. 

How  did  Paul  come  to  this  remarkable,  this 
bold  idea  ?  It  was  given  him  through  faith  in 
Jesus  Christ.  He  is  the  Lord,  whose  almighty 
love  embraces  the  many  children  of  men  in  a 
unity.  He  is  the  head,  and  the  body  cannot 
be  wanting.  He  who  fills  all  things  wills  that 
the  Church  reach  a  state  in  which  His  fulness 


266    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

will  be  manifest.  He  is  the  husband  and  the 
Church  His  wife,  as  of  old  the  people  Israel 
was  looked  on  as  Jahve's  married  wife. 

The  almighty  will  of  Christ  the  Lord  fulfils 
itself ;  He  creates  for  Himself  a  Church  which 
follows  Him.  Whether  that  Church  be  small 
or  great,  however  loose  the  connection  of  its 
parts  may  be,  it  is  guaranteed  through  Christ's 
will  as  the  kernel  of  mankind,  as  the  gold  in 
history,  as  the  historical  organ  of  the  operations 
of  the  Divine  Spirit,  and  hence  as  the  com- 
munion in  which  is  the  highest  progress  that 
the  human  spirit  can  reach. 

And  this  community  existed  and  grew,  as 
the  mustard  seed  grew  into  a  tree  ;  it  was  the 
net  which  drew  many  from  the  deep.  This  was 
the  Christian  Church.  Had  Jesus  won  only 
individual  souls  here  and  there,  holy  recluses 
and  lonely  spirits,  His  work  would  have  been 
ruined  and  His  will  would  have  remained 
unfulfilled.  Celsus  or  Voltaire  must  then 
have  been  right.  What  one  man  had  built 
up  with  his  poor  followers,  other  men  of  greater 


THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       267 

genius  could  and  must  have  destroyed.  But 
out  of  the  ecrasez  rinfdme  hurled  against  the 
Church,  nothing  has  ever  come.  For  it  was  not 
the  believers'  strength  of  conviction,  nor  yet 
the  blood  of  the  martyrs,  but  the  spirit  of  Jesus 
Christ  that  was  the  foundation  and  seed  of  the 
Christian  Church. 

But  nothing  that  God  wills  and  accomplishes 
in  the  history  of  mankind  is  unnatural  or  con- 
trary to  human  nature,  for  God  Himself  has 
created  that  nature  as  the  organ  of  His  will. 
Though  the  capacities  and  inclinations  of 
this  nature  may  serve  as  paths  for  the  powers 
of  evil,  they  are  also  the  ways  by  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  moves.  This  holds  with  reference 
to  the  Church  also.  The  will  of  Christ  that 
His  Church  exist,  needed  human  nature  with 
its  tendencies  and  inclinations  as  means  for 
raising  the  structure.  Man  lives  not  soli- 
tarily, but  socially.  The  greatest  that  he 
experiences,  thinks,  and  wills,  he  thinks  and 
wills  for  others.  He  speaks  and  acts  out  of 
and  about  what  moves  his  heart.     So  the  men 


268    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

who  inwardly  experienced  the  sovereignty  of 
Christ  could  not  act  otherwise  than  for  the 
advancement  of  this  sovereignty.  "  We 
cannot  but  speak  the  things  which  we  have 
seen  and  heard."  They  came  with  their  ex- 
perience to  other  men  ;  they  persuaded  and 
convinced  ;  they  worked  through  their  life  and 
won  through  their  death.  So  they  carried  on 
Christ's  work  in  word  and  deed,  in  action  and 
suffering.  It  was  Christ's  will  that  mankind 
become  the  Kingdom  of  God.  They  applied 
this  will  to  individuals  according  to  their 
nature  and  their  need,  expounding  and  bring- 
ing nearer  to  them  the  sovereignty  and  the 
Kingdom. 

And  this  their  will,  these  their  words — 
one  may  think  of  the  apostles,  or  just  as  well 
call  to  mind  the  mother  who  teaches  her  child 
to  pray,  or  the  friend  who  wishes  to  convince 
the  friend — found  a  hearing,  and  went  home  to 
the  heart  as  an  expression  of  the  almighty  will 
of  God  concerning  the  individual  soul.  The 
soul  experienced  in  these  words  the  nearness 


THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       ^69 

of  God,  as  if  it  heard  a  voice  saying,  I  will 
have  thee  for  mine.  Thousands  experienced 
the  sovereignty  and  the  Kingdom.  And  faith 
in  it  and  love  became  the  common  possession 
and  the  common  spirit  of  a  group  of  men. 
But  this  common  element  existed  for  the  indi- 
viduals, overcame  the  individuals,  and  made 
them  members  of  the  whole.  And  precisely 
in  this  is  expressed  and  revealed  its  power. 

And  this  divine  power  which  gives  life  to 
the  Church  in  strengthening  and  uplifting 
through  the  words  of  its  members,  in  awaken- 
ing and  stirring  up,  was  experienced  by  Christen- 
dom as  the  Holy  Spirit  which  Christ  had 
promised  to  send  to  His  Church.  The  God 
who  wills  that  the  individuals  be  His,  and 
bends  them  under  His  sovereignty  and  fits 
them  into  His  Kingdom,  is  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  almighty  power  from 
above,  which  frees  the  soul  from  the  earthly  and 
the  everyday,  and  fills  it  with  life.  In  ancient 
Christendom  the  effects  produced  by  this  Spirit 
were  felt  with  the  force  of  natural  effects  ;  for 


270    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

example,  the  gift  of  healing  or  the  ecstatic 
speaking  with  tongues.  That  has  ceased.  But 
we  still  experience  the  Spirit  from  above  as 
operative  spiritual  will-power.  There  is  some- 
thing constraining,  overpowering  in  the  opera- 
tion of  the  Spirit.  All  the  light  He  sheds  into 
my  soul,  all  the  conceptions  He  brings  home 
to  my  heart,  are  summed  up  finally  in  the  deep 
experience  that  an  almighty  power  has  come 
over  me  and  claims  me  as  its  own.  Christ's 
will  that  a  Church  exist  is  realised  by  the 
operativeness  of  the  Spirit  in  the  individuals, 
and,  out  of  the  fulness  of  the  grace-bestowing 
will  revealed  to  man  in  Christ  the  Spirit  goes 
forth  as  eternal  will  -  power  to  bring  the 
individual  soul  into  subjection  to  God. 

So  the  Christian  Church  is  the  realisation 
of  the  will  of  Jesus  Christ ;  but  it  becomes 
so  because  the  Holy  Spirit  makes  the  God- 
power  to  operate  upon  its  members  to  the 
intent  that  thou  and  I  and  many  individual 
souls  become  God's.  The  Church  is  the  pro- 
duct of  Jesus  Christ,  and  it  is  the  product  of 


THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       271 

the  Holy  Spirit,  and  it  is  so  because  the  Holy 
Spirit  masters  the  former,  as  a  will  masters  the 
whole,  only  in  so  far  as  the  Church  wills  the 
particular  individual  parts. 

In  this  way  the  Christian  Church  arose.  It 
may  be  regarded  as  the  work  of  Jesus  Christ, 
or  looked  on  as  the  product  of  the  propa- 
ganda of  the  religious  ideas  of  Christen- 
dom, or  judged  of  as  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  But  all  this  is  only  a  clearer  way 
of  expressing  the  one  thought  that  the  Church 
consists  of  those  men  whom  God  makes  sub- 
ject to  His  sway  by  leading  them  to  His 
Kingdom. 

He  who  recognises  this  connection  cannot 
think  it  strange  that  Jesus  laid  before  His 
disciples  definite  forms  for  the  furtherance  of 
His  cause  in  the  world.  They  are  three  :  the 
preached  gospel  word,  and  in  support  of  it  the 
work  of  love,  baptism  in  God's  name,  and  the 
repetition  of  the  Last  Supper  which  Jesus  held 
with  His  disciples. 

The  effects  of  influence  are  produced  through 


272    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

word  and  sign,  therefore  Jesus  chose  these 
means.  The  word  is  simply  the  means  of 
communicating  spiritual  meanings  and  emo- 
tions. So,  on  the  choice  of  it,  nothing  more 
need  be  said.  It  was  simply  necessary.  But 
since  the  word  spoken  concerning  Jesus  and 
His  sovereignty  is  an  expression  of  the  divine 
will  as  to  man,  these  human  words  become  at 
the  same  time  manifestations  of  the  Spirit  and 
the  power  of  God.  Nothing  specially  ecclesi- 
astical in  the  official  sense  is  to  be  thought  of 
in  regard  to  the  word  as  a  means  of  grace,  nor 
anything  solemn  or  abstract.  Where  one 
wishes  to  make  another  subject  to  the 
sovereignty  of  God,  he  wills  it  from  God, 
and  what  he  wills  and  speaks  is  the  expression 
of  the  will  of  God,  and  his  word  takes  effect 
in  so  far  as  it  is  heard  at  all,  and  works 
psychologically  as  almighty  divine  will.  We 
all — the  young  too,  and  even  the  erring — 
speak  God's  word  in  so  far  as  we  speak  of 
God's  sovereignty,  for  our  speech  is  the  vehicle 
of  the  power  of  God. 


THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       273 

But  how  can  God's  word  be  spoken  or 
become  a  historical  power  unless  it  is  followed 
by  those  who  speak  as  well  as  by  those  to 
whom  they  speak  ?  The  word  is  accompanied 
by  faith  and  love.  That  the  word  is  spirit  and 
life  is  shown  constantly  by  the  fact  that  it 
does  not  exist  or  live  without  the  gift  of  the 
spirit  and  of  life,  without  faith  and  love. 
There  may  be  exceptions  here  and  there  where 
the  word  is  proclaimed  without  the  power  of 
faith  and  the  exemplification  of  love.  The  life 
of  Christendom  as  a  whole  must  see  to  it  that 
these  exceptions  are  recognised  as  such. 

What  the  word  says   often  and   in  divers 

forms     of    expression    capable     of    different 

meaning,  baptism  has  brought  us  as  a  single 

act.     The  form  of  the  Christian   baptism   is 

connected  with  the  baptism  of  John,  which 

in  its  turn  went  back  upon  the  baptism  of 

proselytes.     Washings  of  that  kind  served  not 

seldom  as  religious  symbols  in   those   times. 

Christian  baptism  transmits  to  the  soul  nothing 

else   than   the   word    of   evangelic    preaching 

18 


274    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

brings  it.  In  the  fact  that  it  happens  only 
once  lies  its  meaning  for  the  Christian  soul. 
Once  for  all  it  is  fixed  and  said  to  the  soul 
that  it  belongs  to  God,  and  that  He  gives  it 
forgiveness  and  life.  In  the  anxiety  of  mis- 
understanding and  in  the  distress  of  misap- 
prehension the  soul  can  take  comfort  in  this, 
that  God's  sovereignty  over  it  is  consummated 
with  its  gifts  and  its  tasks.  In  this  connection 
infant  baptism,  which  has  become  usual  in  the 
Church,  can  easily  be  understood.  It  is  not 
a  question  of  an  infusing  of  "germs  of  new 
life "  in  baptism — what  could  that  mean  ? — 
God  places  the  child  under  His  sovereignty 
and  love ;  the  child  has  been  brought  into  this 
sphere  and  is  to  be  kept  in  it.  That  signifies 
not  less  than  those  "  germs,"  but  more,  for  it 
is  all  that  God  gives  the  soul.  But  just  as 
infant  baptism  took  its  place  in  the  Church 
only  after  the  Church  became  the  people's 
Church,  so  its  continuance  now  presupposes 
the  presence  of  a  Christian  communion  in 
which  the  child  is  able  gradually  to  appropriate 


THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       275 

to     itself    the    gifts    given    it     by    God    in 
baptism. 

There  is  a  very  ancient  hturgical  word — 
known  already  by  Paul,  1  Cor.  xvi.  22— 
which  expresses  simply  to  us  the  religious 
meaning  of  the  Last  Supper.  It  is  Marana  tha, 
"  Come,  Lord."  It  is  found  in  the  conclusion 
of  the  old  communion  liturgy.  It  was  this 
that  the  receivers  of  bread  and  wine,  according 
to  Christ's  appointment,  expected,  namely,  that 
Christ  should  be  present  in  that  hour  among 
them  with  His  love  and  His  power,  as  once 
at  that  last  supper  which  He  held  with  His 
disciples.  "  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door  and 
knock :  if  any  man  hear  my  voice,  and  open 
the  door,  I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup 
with  him,  and  he  with  me"  (Rev.  iii.  20). 
"  Having  loved  his  own,  he  loved  them  unto 
the  end."  That  was  the  frame  of  mind  at 
that  last  supper  in  the  circle  of  the  disciples. 
That  He  is  present  to  His  disciples  as  on 
that  evening  in  living  nearness  with  the  gifts 
and  blessings  of  His  new  covenant  is  the  faith 


276    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

which  each  Christian  celebration  of  the  Supper 
presupposes,  begets,  and  deepens. 

Since  such  is  the  state  of  affairs  with  regard 
to  the  Church  and  the  means  of  its  existence, 
it  was  a  historical  necessity  that,  in  proportion 
as  the  Church  spread  in  the  world  and  the 
free  life  of  the  Spirit  showed  itself  in  habits 
and  forms,  care  should  be  taken  for  the  regular 
use  of  the  means  of  Christian  propaganda  and 
self-preservation.  From  this  consideration 
follows  the  necessity  of  the  ecclesiastical  office, 
as  also  the  duty  of  this  office.  There  is  only 
one  office  necessary  in  the  Church — that  is 
the  preacher's  office — and  it  is  therefore  the 
*' highest  office"  in  the  Church,  as  the 
Augsburg  Confession  says.  Its  sole  duty  and 
aim  is  to  proclaim  Christ,  and  thereby  and 
only  thereby  to  subject  souls  to  the  sovereignty 
of  God.  The  realisation  of  God's  govern- 
ment is  the  deepest  ground  and  reason  of 
ecclesiastical  rule. 

That  happens  especially  through  preaching, 
and  by  this  duty  its  nature  must  be  determined 


THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       277 

in  the  various  ages  of  history  according  to  the 
needs  of  the  congregation.  If  preaching  is 
to  be  efficacious,  the  ecclesiastical  office  will 
also  have  to  exercise  an  educational  activity 
on  the  congregation.  The  instruction  of  the 
young  and  the  care  for  souls  are  just  as 
important  here  as  the  guidance  to  the  works 
of  the  Home  Mission  or  the  ecclesiastical 
arrangements  for  co-operation  in  the  solution 
of  the  great  religious  and  moral  problems  of 
the  day,  such  as  the  social  question  at  present. 
It  is  only  a  sign  of  natural  development  that  in 
recent  times  Christendom's  manifold  labour  of 
love  is  advanced  quite  specially  by  free  societies 
and  not  solely  by  the  organised  Church. 

So  the  work  of  the  Church  develops  to  a 
widely  extending  activity  that  enters  into  the 
most  manifold  provinces  of  life.  In  this  lies 
the  ground  of  the  Church's  entering  as  a  whole 
into  a  permanent  historical  connection  with 
the  surrounding  world.  It  experiences  a 
history  so  far  as  it  takes  part  in  the  collective 
life-and-culture-movement  of  mankind. 


278    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

The  Church  must  not  be  separated  from 
the  total  mental  movement  of  history.  The 
measure  of  its  effects  can  hardly  be  taken 
broad  and  great  enough.  It  is  an  external 
and  lower  conception  when  the  word  **  Church  " 
is  used  for  Churches  and  ministers,  for  par- 
ticular ritual  acts  or  for  the  visible  organism. 
The  Church  advances  God's  cause  in  the 
world,  and  therefore  also  the  interests  of 
human  souls;  it  is  the  chief  educator  of  the 
human  spirit.  The  Church  is  the  protector 
of  the  greatest  goods  and  most  precious 
possessions  of  history,  and  the  stream  of  life 
which  gives  power  to  the  fields  of  humanity 
to  bring  forth,  instead  of  the  reeds  and  flowers 
of  pseudo-culture,  the  strong  bread-fruit  which 
is  necessary  for  the  real  progress  of  the  mind. 

The  recognition  that  Christianity  is  the 
absolute  religion  determines  the  recognition 
of  the  significance  of  the  Church.  While  all 
other  religious  societies  and  all  schools  and 
tendencies  relapse  into  the  world  and  the 
spirit  and  life  in  them  is  gradually  destroyed 


THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       279 

and  broken  by  the  world,  there  Hves  and 
reigns  in  the  Church  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
eternal  life.  From  the  Church  holy  life  can 
always  stream  anew  into  the  dying  world,  and 
from  it  the  sovereignty  of  God  intervenes  ever 
anew  in  the  history  of  the  human  spirit.  It 
is  no  high-flown,  romantic  fancy,  but  the  ex- 
pression of  the  simple  thought  that  Jesus' 
words  and  Jesus'  spirit  live  and  are  borne 
witness  to  in  Christendom,  and  that  therefore 
the  power  of  God  becomes  manifest  in  it. 
But  that  means  it  is  the  proclamation  of  the 
Church  that  raises  man  to  the  highest  point 
of  his  nature.     This  should  now  be  clear. 

So  the  human  race  needs  the  Church  as  the 
historical  source  of  eternal  life.  Such  state- 
ments are  often  looked  on  as  a  mere  glorifica- 
tion of  the  Church,  and  offence  is  taken  at 
them  on  that  account.  But  it  must  not 
be  overlooked  how  infinitely  difficult  and 
responsible  duties  arise  therefrom  for  the 
Church. 

But  if  this  is  so,  then  the  Church  has  a 


280    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

fixed  and  necessary  relation  to  tlie  world  and 
its  history.  Missionary  and  apologetic  work, 
the  criticism  of  the  world's  condition  and  the 
preaching  of  eternal  life  are  not  subjective 
whims  of  people  who  have  nothing  else  to 
do,  nor  "  pious  obtrusiveness  " — as  is  probably 
often  thought — but  represent  the  fulfilment 
of  the  Church's  tasks  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  So  long  as  the  Church  exists  they  are 
there,  and  so  long  as  they  are  there  the 
Church  continues  to  exist. 

Where  this  is  understood,  it  will  also  be 
agreed  that  precisely  because  the  Church 
stands  in  a  fixed  relation  of  infinite  import- 
ance to  the  world  it  must  never  become 
secularised.  For  only  if  the  spirit  of  Christ 
alone  reign  in  it,  if  it  holds  itself  inwardly 
free  from  the  world,  can  it  give  its  service  to 
the  world.  A  secular  Church  is  of  no  use  to 
the  world ;  a  spiritual  Church  means  every- 
thing for  the  world.  In  other  words,  the 
Church  shall  be  free.  It  is  free  if  Jesus 
Christ  is  its  Lord,  He  alone. 


THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       281 

But  it  is  precisely  on  account  of  this  inner 
freedom  from  the  world  that  the  Church  is 
capable  of  entering  into  the  closest  and  con- 
scious relation  to  the  world.  This  relation  is 
its  task. 

This  relation  demands  first  that  the  ecclesi- 
astical world  of  thought  should  assert  itself  over 
against  the  view  of  the  world  held  by  the  par- 
ticular age  and  should  receive  the  forms  which 
make  it  capable  of  doing  so.  Therewith  the 
task  of  theological  science  and  its  connection 
with  the  world's  scientific  movement  is  charac- 
terised. The  Church  needs  theology  to  enable 
it  to  carry  on  its  work.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  is  involved  in  this  relation  that  conflicts 
between  Church  and  theology  can  from  the 
nature  of  the  case  scarcely  be  avoided.  The 
leaders  in  the  life  of  the  Church  hold,  as  a 
rule,  that  the  forms  and  ideas  in  which  they 
grew  up  and  with  which  they  worked  are  the 
best,  or  even  the  only  possible  ones,  and  so 
raise  objection  or  else  remain  indifferent  to 
the  results  of  the  progress  of  scientific  know- 


282    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

ledge,  and  that  all  the  more  as  the  representa- 
tives of  science,  on  the  other  hand,  have  also  a 
tendency  to  set  up  their  latest  knowledge  and 
observations  prematurely  as  the  truth  to  which 
the  future  belongs,  and  to  oppose  the  common 
and  usual  as  foolish  and  detrimental.  From 
this  there  arises  a  conflict  of  minds  in  which 
old  and  new  struggle  with  each  other  with 
changing  fortune  according  to  the  side  oa 
which  the  power  of  truth  or  the  opportune- 
ness of  the  situation  is  greater.  But  faith  is 
certain  that  truth  wdll  win  the  victory. 

From  the  connection  with  the  world  must 
result  a  second  movement.  The  Church  enters 
into  a  relation  with  the  State.  The  State 
looks  on  the  Church  as  a  legal  institution, 
which  means  that  the  Church  must  adhere 
to  a  fixed  doctrine,  organisation,  and  constitu- 
tion. The  State  will  always  make  this  legal 
demand  of  religious  denominations  and  grant 
protection  to  Churches  on  the  ground  of 
its  fulfilment,  just  as  any  "  recognised " 
society    enjoys   the    privilege    of    legal    pro- 


THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       283 

tection  in  so  far  as  it  conforms  to  its 
statutes  and  the  activity  organised  by  them. 
The  question  is  whether  the  State  contents 
itself  with  this  part  or  claims  an  administra- 
tive direction  of  the  life  of  the  Church.  The 
former  is  the  case  with  the  Free  Churches  ;  the 
latter  is  the  historical  form  of  Protestantism 
in  Germany.  The  princes  take  the  place  of 
superior  bishops,  and  Church  courts  are 
appointed  by  them  to  govern  the  Church. 
Thus  the  Church  government  in  our  Churches 
is  an  ecclesiastical  court  appointed  by  the 
State  to  guide  the  administration  of  the 
Church,  and  to  attend  to  the  preservation 
and  carrying  out  of  canon  law  and  Church 
constitution.  From  this  it  is  clear  how 
endlessly  difficult,  complicated,  and  contra- 
dictory the  position  of  Church  govern- 
ment in  the  majority  of  the  Protestant 
Churches  is.  On  the  one  side,  the  life  of 
the  Church  is  to  be  guided  according  to 
established  laws  ;  on  the  other,  one  cannot 
avoid  seeing  that  these  laws  are  not  always 


284    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

adequate  and  applicable.  On  the  one  hand, 
judgment  must  be  passed  in  accordance  with 
the  spiritual  norms  of  the  Church ;  on  the 
other,  the  temporal  interests  of  the  State 
are  the  standard. 

But  all  these  forms  belong  to  history  and 
are  thereby  more  than  mere  outward  forms  ; 
they  penetrate  deep  into  the  life  of  the 
Church.  Therein  lies  their  importance,  but 
also  their  danger.  They  maintain  the  histori- 
cal continuity  of  development  over  against  the 
inconstant  vagaries  of  new  notions  and  fashion- 
able tendencies.  But  they  are  also  always 
exposed  to  the  bureaucratic  danger  of  "  quench- 
ing the  Spirit "  and  setting  up  compromises  to 
the  truth.  When  it  is  understood  how  all 
the  power  of  the  Church  lies  in  its  spiritual 
freedom  over  against  the  world,  this  danger 
will  not  be  depreciated,  and  it  will  at  least 
be  understood  when  one  of  our  most  brilliant 
jurists  closes  a  recent  work  on  "  Church  Law  " 
with  the  sentence,  **  The  nature  of  Church  law 
stands  in  contradiction  to   the   nature  of  the 


THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       285 

Church."  What  is  especially  necessary  in 
this  matter  is  to  take  a  sober  view  of  things. 
Not  Divine  wisdom,  but  the  administration 
of  the  law  is  to  be  expected  from  Church 
government.  And  its  representatives  are  to 
be  recognised  as  officials,  but  not  in  romantic, 
mystical  phraseology  to  be  advanced  to  "  chief 
shepherds,"  etc.  The  means  afforded  by  the 
Church  constitution  are  to  be  diligently  used, 
but  with  no  other  aim  than  the  inward  one 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  the  honour  of 
God.  It  is  really  only  another  legal  over- 
estimation  of  Church  law,  when,  like  the  above- 
mentioned  jurist,  people  make  the  Church  law 
responsible  for  all  the  evils  in  the  Church. 
Yet  the  difficulties  to  be  met  with  represent 
in  the  long  run  only  one  side  of  the  difficulty 
presented  by  the  presence  of  God's  Spirit  in 
this  world,  and  the  realisation  of  eternal  pos- 
sessions in  time. 

But  these  circumstances  account  for  the 
constant  discontent  with  the  Church  govern- 
ment which  accompanies  Protestantism.     The 


286    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

decisions  are  looked  on  as  either  too  spiritual 
or  too  temporal,  too  narrow  or  too  broad,  not 
sufficiently  wise  or  too  diplomatic.  It  is 
childish  or  ill-minded  to  lay  the  blame  on  the 
persons.  It  lies  in  the  matter  itself.  On  the 
other  hand,  if  deliverance  is  looked  for  from 
the  "Free  Church,"  it  seems  doubtless  that 
the  development  of  Protestantism  is  moving 
gradually  towards  it ;  for  what  other  are  the 
manifold  and  vigorous  unions  and  societies 
of  the  Foreign  and  Home  Mission  than  the 
beginnings  of  the  Free  Church  ?  But  nothing 
would  be  so  fatal  as  a  premature  anticipation 
of  history,  as  the  leap  in  the  dark  which  the 
giving  up  of  the  existing  forms  of  the  Church 
would  mean  for  us. 

But,  to  conclude,  it  is  sufficient  if  an  insight 
has  been  obtained  into  the  difficulties  in  this 
province,  in  which  we  may  experience  some- 
thing of  the  evolution  of  history. 

Still  one  point  requires  to  be  mentioned, 
namely,  the  weal  or  woe  of  the  Church  may 
be  looked   on   as   dependent   on  the  Church 


THE  CHURCH  OF  JESUS  CHRIST       287 

constitution  or  the  theological  work.  Cer- 
tainly the  importance  of  these  is  great ;  but  it 
is  not  ecclesiastical  councillors  and  professors 
of  theology  that  build  the  Church,  but  the 
truth  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  makes  Chris- 
tianity operative  in  the  heart.  Here  theology 
and  Church  government  serve  only  as  assist- 
ants. They  exist  for  the  sake  of  the  ministry 
and  serve  it.  But  this  office,  too,  is  only  a 
historical  form  conditioned  by  time.  What 
it  amounts  to  in  the  long  run  is  that  there 
are  enthusiastic  hearts  to  communicate  Jesus' 
message.  It  depends  on  the  living  persons 
to  whom  religion  is  all,  and  who  on  that 
account  can  look  beyond  everything — parties 
and  schools.  Church  constitution  and  outward 
successes,  with  their  honours.  "  They  saw 
Jesus  only  " — these  are  the  real  builders  of  the 
Church.  When  such  persons  go  and  come, 
the  cause  of  Jesus  Christ  is  forwarded  in  the 
world.  What  hinders  Christ's  message  is 
therefore  to  be  combated,  and  that  with  all 
one's  strength.     As  for  the  rest,  the  ideal  of 


288    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

the  Church  must  be  striven  after,  however  far 
we  still  are  from  it. 

Through  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  the 
sovereignty  of  God  is  extended  among  man- 
kind. Human  souls  are  directly  subjected  to 
it  in  eternal  service.  But  the  Church  exercises, 
too,  an  immeasurable  indirect  influence.  Who 
could  sum  up  shortly  what  a  meaning  Chris- 
tianity has  had  in  the  course  of  history  for  the 
morals  and  right,  the  science  and  art,  the  views 
of  the  world  and  the  feelings  of  mankind  ? 
Even  the  most  energetic  opposers  of  Chris- 
tianity in  our  midst  bear  somehow  or  other 
the  marks  of  Christ  in  them.  Even  the  most 
sober  work  of  man  follows  somehow  or  other 
impulses  which  Jesus  introduced. 

So  the  work  of  the  Church  serves  to  extend 
the  sovereignty  of  God.  What  the  sovereignty 
of  God  brings  to  the  individual  souls  will  be 
the  subject  of  the  next  lecture. 


LECTURE    XV 

The  Origin  and  Development  of  the 
New  Life  of  the  Christian 

What  remains  still  to  be  discussed  ? 

Many  questions  present  themselves  at  this 
point,  an  answer  to  which  is  necessary  in  order 
even  approximately  to  exhaust  our  subject. 
These  cannot  be  discussed  now.  One  point, 
however,  is  so  important  that  it  must  not  be 
omitted. 

Christianity  has  been  recognised  as  the 
absolute  religion.  The  new  condition  of  the 
soul  which  it  brings  has  also  been  discussed  in 
that  connection;  then  the  means  by  which 
God  has  made  Christianity  a  historically  oper- 
ative power,  and  the  ways  in  which  it  shows 

itself  operative  in  the  history  of  mankind.     At 

289  19 


290    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

the  end  we  see  ourselves  pointed  again  to  the 
soul  and  the  real  life  which  it  leads. 

If  we  could  lay  hold  of  the  new  life  by  a 
simple  resolution  and  then  in  its  power  continue 
in  it,  how  blessed  and  joyous  the  days  of  our 
life  would  pass  !  But  as  we  win  all  that  is 
great  and  good  in  life  gradually  through 
laborious  development  and  hold  it  through 
many  struggles,  so  it  is  with  Christianity. 

This  development  and  these  struggles  are 
the  subject  of  the  present  lecture ;  the  con- 
cluding one  will  treat  of  the  goal  of  the 
development. 

Personal  Christianity  consists  in  faith  and 
love ;  in  nothing  less  and  in  nothing  more. 
What  that  means  and  includes  in  itself  has 
been  already  recognised. 

Everything  in  our  soul  has  a  beginning ;  so 
our  Christianity  has  had  a  beginning.  How 
was  it  effected  ?  The  answer  was  given  in  the 
last  lecture.  Heaven  is  not  rent  asunder, 
nor  does  a  supernatural  nature  stream  as  by 
holy  magic  into  our  nature.     The  deeds  and 


GROWTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN'S  NEW  LIFE  291 

words  through  which  God  became  manifest  to 
the  world  in  Jesus  Christ  have  entered  into 
history  and  live  on  in  the  Church.  And  these 
deeds  and  words  prove  their  divinity  in  influ- 
encing us  still  to-day  as  eternal  will-power. 
Christianity  comes  to  us  through  the  word, 
which  teaches  God's  sovereignty  and  His 
Kingdom.  This  word  influences  us  as  a  divine 
power.  We  experience  the  sovereignty  of 
God,  which  persuades  and  overcomes  us. 
Thereby  our  soul  receives  a  new  content.  It 
experiences  the  operation  of  God,  who  gives  it 
faith  and  love  and  assures  it  of  the  forgiveness 
of  sins.  This  content  which  has  been  won — not 
the  natural  capacity  which  we  call  talent — 
makes  the  soul  what  it  is.  A  new  content 
means  a  new  soul.  Since  God  gives  faith  and 
love,  He  has  created  us  anew  to  be  a  new 
creature  ;  we  are  born  again  of  God,  to  use  the 
biblical  expression.  "  Old  things  are  passed 
away  ;  behold,  all  things  are  become  new." 

But  nothing  happens  in  the  soul  that  is  not 
through  the  soul.     That  is  after  all  the  mean- 


292    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  REIJGION 

ing  of  human  freedom.  Only  that  which  the 
soul  wills  as  its  own  end  belongs  wholly  to  it. 
The  filling  with  new  content  takes  place,  there- 
fore, only  in  so  far  as  we  comprehend  this  new 
content  and  consent  to  it  in  thought,  will,  and 
feeling.  That  is  conversion.  Thus  the  new 
birth  and  conversion  designate  the  same  occur- 
rence. When  it  is  thought  of  as  effected  by 
God  it  is  called  the  new  birth ;  when  looked 
on  as  becoming  our  own  through  our  receptive 
or  actual  activity,  conversion.  The  new  birth 
is  conversion.  We  make  use  of  these  biblical 
expressions  because  they  are  known  and  easily 
understood  ;  the  expressions  in  themselves  are 
of  no  importance.  But  I  hope  that  the  mean- 
ing and  the  inward  psychological  necessity  of 
the  inward  occurrences  designated  by  them  are 
now  intelligible. 

That  is  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  life. 
These  are  the  first  emotions  of  the  soul  in 
which  we  experience  God's  sovereignty  and 
will  His  kingdom  ;  that  is  faith  and  love.  We 
feel  ourselves  apprehended   of  God,  and   we 


GROWTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIANAS  NEW  LIFE  293 

apprehend  Him.  The  greater  the  change  in 
the  soul,  the  stronger  the  stirrings  of  feehng. 
Mighty  and  strong,  soft  and  tender  they  thrill 
our  heart.  Great  plans  struggle  to  the  surface. 
We  feel  ourselves  satisfied  and  blessed,  and  we 
wish  to  be  good  and  strong.  Our  aspiration 
is  great,  and  the  world  appears  small,  and  it 
seems  to  us  simple  to  conquer  it  for  our  ends. 

But  the  world  is  great  and  the  relations 
which  bind  us  to  it  endlessly  complicated,  and 
the  heart  is  many-sided  and  thereby  often 
weak  and  fickle.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  be- 
ginning does  not  last.  The  tasks  of  the  day 
demand  the  whole  soul  with  all  its  powers,  and 
the  habits  of  hfe  bring  us  impulses  and  ends 
which  seem  to  have  nothing  in  common  with 
God's  sovereignty. 

And  then  the  soul  sees  with  terror  and 
amazement  that  things  are  quite  different  from 
what  it  thought ;  it  wishes  to  have  faith  and  to 
love,  but  no  occasion  presents  itself  thereto. 
The  remembrance  is  beautiful ;  but  the  present 
has  nothing  in  common  with  it.     One  fares  like 


294    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

the  traveller  who  wanders  on,  map  in  hand. 
The  decisive  parting  of  the  ways  is  marked  on 
the  map ;  but  always  new  cross-roads  appear 
of  which  the  map  says  nothing. 

But  we  wish  to  come  to  the  goal.  The  goal 
was  too  beautiful  and  the  impression  it  made 
too  powerful  to  permit  of  our  neglecting  it. 
The  goal  was  given  us  when  we  did  not  know 
it  nor  will  it ;  now  we  will  to  hold  it,  but  the 
gift  threatens  to  disappear.  The  question  is 
this,  How  are  we  to  bring  faith  and  love  out  of 
the  great  moments  of  life  into  the  small ;  how 
is  the  momentary  exaltation  to  become  a 
lasting  possession  of  the  soul  ? 

This  can  be  done  manifestly  only  through 
the  means  which  faith  and  love  have  brought 
us,  namely,  the  word.  We  begin  to  seek  the 
word  as  it  once  sought  us.  We  seek  the 
Church  and  listen  to  what  is  said  about  God  ; 
we  seek  intercourse  with  Christian  personalities ; 
we  seek  for  books  which  can  deepen  and 
enrich  our  understanding  and  experience  of 
Christianity. 


GROWTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN'S  NEW  LIFE  295 

He  that  seeketh  findeth.  Seeking  renders 
capable  of  finding  in  the  inward  life,  for  seek- 
ing means  applying  oneself  to  the  things 
which  one  wishes.  So  we  get  answers  to  our 
questions,  since  the  question  makes  the  soul 
capable  of  receiving  an  answer.  And  how 
mightily  is  our  soul's  circle  of  interest  now 
deepened  and  extended  !  The  seeking  already 
makes  our  soul  richer.  Old  books  and  hymns 
which  we  once  despised  as  "trash";  the  religious 
life-experiences  of  others  which  we  once  good- 
naturedly  smiled  at,  we  begin  now  to  under- 
stand and  love.  A  new  world  of  light  shines 
in  all  that,  and  something  like  a  new  sense 
arises  in  us  for  the  understanding  of  it.  In 
this  way  the  seeking  and  questioning  soul 
experiences  a  development.  According  as  it 
opens  itself  to  those  things,  do  they  win 
entrance  into  it,  and  in  the  measure  that  they 
penetrate  it,  does  the  entrance  for  them  become 
wider.  He  who  will  experience  Christianity 
must  not  wait  for  it ;  he  must  seek  it.  And  he 
can  seek  it,  after  the  beginning  has  come  to 


296    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

him.  But  more,  he  must  seek  it  so  far  as  this 
beginning  urges  him  thereto.  He  to  whom 
faith  and  love  have  come  cannot  do  otherwise 
than  strive  after  them  to  have  them. 

But  it  was  not  men  but  God  who  gave  faith 
and  love.  It  is  God,  therefore,  who  can 
preserve  them  to  us  and  wills  to  do  so.  It 
is  from  God  the  soul  expects  this,  and  it  is 
to  God  it  directs  itself  in  its  seeking  and 
questioning.     That  is  prayer. 

The  Christian  prays  "in  the  name  of  Jesus." 
The  authority  of  Jesus  moves  him  to  prayer. 
In  the  sphere  of  communion  with  Jesus  Christ 
he  can  pray  and  he  wills  to  pray,  and  through 
Jesus  his  prayer  seems  certain  of  being  heard. 
That  is  praying  in  Jesus'  name.  It  is  not  an 
arbitrary  Church  dogma  that  is  designated 
thereby  ;  it  is  not  chance  that  so  many  Church 
prayers  close  with  the  words,  "  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord."  Through  Christ's  life 
becoming  the  content  of  our  soul  the  great 
came  into  our  life.  Only  in  communion  with 
Christ,  only  through  Him  can  we  expect  that 


GROWTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIANAS  NEW  LIFE  297 

what  we  received  will  be  preserved  and  shielded 
to  us.  Therefore  Christian  prayer  is  "  prayer  in 
Jesus'  name." 

Thi^ee  things  are  comprised  in  this.  In 
the  first  place,  the  object  of  prayer  is  deter- 
mined. I  pray  for  what  communion  with 
Jesus  brings  me.  It  brings  me  faith  and  love. 
That  is  really  the  chief  object  of  prayer.  For 
this  we  pray  categorically,  in  the  certainty  that 
God  always  wills  to  give  us  it ;  for  it  is  His 
nature  to  rule,  but  that  means  to  work  faith 
and  love.     That  is  His  sovereignty. 

For  the  outward  things  of  life  we  pray  hypo- 
thetically,  because  we  cannot  penetrate  the 
connection  which  the  outward  things  have 
with  the  salvation  of  our  soul.  Whether 
expressed  or  not,  we  make  such  things  subject 
to  the  condition,  "  Not  my  will,  but  Thine  be 
done."  But  that  means,  in  other  words,  if 
it  inwardly  furthers  and  exalts  me,  give  it  me ; 
but  if  not,  withhold  it.  That  is  the  prayer  of 
faith  in  Jesus'  name.  At  the  present  day 
prayer  is   recommended   for   the    purpose    of 


298    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

healing  the  sick.  This  is  in  itself  nothing  new. 
The  unbelieving  have  at  all  times  wished  to 
prescribe  to  God  what  He  has  to  do  and  give. 
But  this  categorical  asking  for  wonders  and 
healings  of  the  sick,  or  for  money  and  property, 
however  much  it  may  be  praised  as  "  believing," 
is  at  bottom  only  an  expression  of  unbelief. 
Faith  wills  to  accept  what  God  gives  and 
works  ;  unbelief  wills  that  God  work  what  we 
will.  The  unbelief  that  deports  itself  as  real 
faith  is  superstition.  Superstition  lies  finally 
at  the  bottom  of  all  prayers  of  that  kind. 

Prayer  in  the  name  of  Jesus  renders  intelli- 
gible to  us,  secondly,  that  we  should  pray  to- 
gether and  pray  for  each  other.  Christ  worked 
for  His  Church  ;  so  he  who  lives  in  communion 
with  Him  prays  for  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  for  all  the  individuals  that  belong  or  should 
belong  to  it.  Here,  too,  faith  and  love  are  the 
real  object  of  his  prayer. 

Thirdly,  prayer  in  Jesus'  name  assures  us 
that  our  prayer  is  heard.  Christ  wills  that 
faith  and  love  exist,  and   Christ  is  almighty. 


GROWTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIANAS  NEW  LIFE  299 

Therefore,  he  who  asks  for  this  receives  it. 
The  ways  in  which  it  comes  to  him  are 
diverse.  They  are  not  always  those  our 
phantasy  pictured  to  itself;  but  the  goal 
that  we  willed  becomes  ours,  so  far  as  we 
pray  for  "  the  one  thing  needful."  We  prayed 
that  suffering  might  be  taken  from  us,  or 
an  outward  possession  given  us ;  the  former 
should  increase  our  faith,  the  latter  our  love. 
But  the  suffering  becomes  heavier  and  the 
good  removes  further  off,  and  yet  we  recognise 
with  thankful  heart  that  what  we  really  wished 
has  become  ours,  for  faith  and  love  have 
become  stronger  in  the  soul.  In  those  days 
when  outward  miracles  were  an  everyday 
occurrence,  a  great  and  mighty  man,  who 
has  advanced  the  Kingdom  of  God  more  than 
any  other,  prayed  that  a  grievous  bodily 
malady,  which  hindered  him  in  his  calling  as 
apostle,  might  be  taken  from  him.  He  con- 
tinued to  pray  for  it,  but  the  malady  remained  ; 
and  yet  he  knew  that  his  prayer  was  heard, 
for  the  experience  came  to  him,  "  My  grace  is 


300    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

sufficient  for  thee,  for  my  strength  is  made 
perfect  in  weakness."  In  this  he  learned  the 
lesson,  "  When  I  am  weak,  then  am  I  strong." 
That  was  the  Apostle  Paul.  This  story  shows 
us  briefly  how  matters  stand  for  the  Christian 
as  to  the  hearing  of  prayer.  Prayer  is  always 
heard  and  always  answered,  even  though  our 
wishes  and  the  pictures  of  our  fancy  remain 
unfulfilled.  That  points  us  to  the  barrier  of 
faith  and  humility  which  the  Christian  ever 
erects  around  his  prayer ;  he  does  that,  not  in 
a  calculating,  unwilling  frame  of  mind,  but 
easily  and  as  a  matter  of  course,  for  he  prays 
in  faith  and  in  Christ's  name. 

That  is  the  state  of  matters  as  regards 
prayer.  It  is  a  seeking  and  a  finding.  And 
the  seeking  strengthens  and  extends  faith  and 
love,  as  well  as  the  finding. 

Such  is  a  short  review  of  the  Christian's 
inward  development.  He  who  goes  this  way 
has  his  soul  filled  through  and  through  with 
faith  and  love.  What  does  that  mean?  It 
cannot  mean  that  every  moment  of  his  exist- 


GROWTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN'S  NEW  LIFE  301 

ence  is  filled  with  acts  of  faith  and  love. 
That  is  simply  psychologically  impossible,  and 
it  is  always  thoughtless  to  demand  the  im- 
possible. Every  real  work  and  every  natural 
occupation  demands  our  whole  undivided 
attention  and  devotion.  He  who  fails  in 
these,  works  negligently  and  badly.  No 
Christian  should  work  so.  The  answer  to  our 
question  is  different.  The  longer  and  more 
energetically  I  have  taken  pains  with  faith  and 
love,  and  the  more  frequently  I  have  striven 
after  acts  of  faith  and  love,  the  more  do  faith 
and  love  become  a  possession  and  habit  of  my 
soul.  They  are  there  even  when  I  do  not 
perceive  them,  for  any  moment  can  set  them 
free  in  me. 

And  that  really  happens,  and  in  its  happen- 
ing there  comes  to  us  what  we  sought  in  the 
beginnings  of  our  development,  and  what  we 
always  continue  to  seek.  Not  like  an  unusual 
guest,  not  like  "  The  Maiden  from  afar,"  ^  are 
faith   and   love   henceforth   to  us.     We  have 

1  "Das  Madchen  aus  der  Feme/'  poem  by  Schiller. 


302    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

them  as  the  abiding,  permanent  possession  of 
our  soul.  When  we  gaze  upon  the  glory  of 
nature,  and  when  we  feel  the  gifts  of  history ; 
when  sorrow  knocks  at  the  door  of  our  soul 
like  a  stern  warner,  and  when  joy  comes  to  us 
as  a  long-expected  friend  ;  when  day  sinks  into 
night,  and  when  morning  greets  us  ;  when  the 
evening  song  of  life  sounds  warning  in  the 
soul,  and  when  life's  noonday  calls  us  to  action  ; 
when  the  great  comes  softly,  and  the  small 
enforces  its  noisy  claims ;  when  gifts  absorb 
us  deeply,  and  tasks  press  upon  us  with  loud, 
shrill  call ;  when  we  rise  to  the  heights,  and 
when  we  are  in  the  depths,  then  we  have 
the  blessed  and  wondrous  experience  of  the 
nearness  of  the  all-ruling  God,  who  loves 
us  and  exalts  our  soul  to  Himself;  then 
we  feel  the  impulse  to  holy,  eternal  action  in 
us,  we  have  faith  and  we  love.  God  reigns 
in  all ;  Christ  is  the  Lord  of  the  world's  history  ; 
Holy  Spirit  penetrates  the  changing  correla- 
tions of  life  in  word  and  deed,  and  the  frag- 
ments of  good  in  us  are  fitted  into  the  temple 


GROWTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIANAS  NEW  LIFE  eS03 

of  the  Kingdom  of  God  ;  the  beginnings  reach 
on  to  the  goal ;  the  manifold  becomes  one  in  the 
great  goal ;  restlessness  and  anxiety  give  place 
to  certainty  and  joy.  "  If  God  be  for  us,  who, 
or  what,  can  be  against  us  ? "  And  from  the 
change  of  varying  experience,  from  the  rapture 
of  success  and  the  pain  of  disappointment, 
from  the  suffering  of  the  world  which  grinds 
us  down,  and  the  joy  in  God  who  saves  us, 
there  arises  with  rejoicing  the  confession  of 
our  inmost  soul : 

"  Thee  will  I  love,  O  fairest  light. 
Till  life's  day  close." 

That  is  the  development  of  the  Christian, 
his  self-unfolding.  It  realises  itself  in  our 
working,  but  it  is  God's  work.  We  sought ; 
He  causes  us  to  find.  As  conversion  is  new 
birth,  so  is  religious  self -unfolding  God's 
^preservation  in  faith  and  love. 

But  one  thing  brings  us  to  a  dead-lock.  It 
is  sin.  A  new  habit  of  life  arises  in  us,  but 
an  old  continues  to  exist.  We  will  faith  and 
love  and  we  do  not  will  them  ;  for  we  will  the 


304    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

world  with  its  pleasure  and  its  unbelief.  We 
will  both  and  we  do  not  will  either.  That  is 
the  great  conflict  in  our  soul.  The  black  and 
the  white  horse  pull  it ;  it  is  dragged  left  and 
right.  It  is  not  the  butterfly  that  soars  aloft 
with  glittering  wings,  but  the  caterpillar  in 
which  the  impulse  to  wing-power  stirs,  and  yet 
it  cannot  fly. 

What  does  that  mean,  and  whence  comes 
it? 

It  means  that  in  our  soul  the  wicked  lust  of 
the  world  and  the  worldly  mind  that  overturns 
everything  and  destroys  the  soul  are  always 
coming  into  power  again.  This  is  so  because 
the  long  habit  of  evil  still  determines  our  life. 

In  many  ways  this  foreign  and  yet  natural 
power  makes  itself  felt  in  us.  The  old 
tendency  may  assert  itself  suddenly  and  con- 
test our  whole  Christianity ;  faith  is  imagina- 
tion, and  love  extravagance.  Or,  again,  faith 
and  love  may  remain  in  power,  only  there  are 
definite  points  of  life  which  are  not  to  be 
touched   by  them.     These   are  the  favourite 


GROWTH  OF  THE  CHRISTIANAS  NEW  LIFE  305 

inclinations  of  man,  the  sweetest  sins  that  his 
life  knows.  He  wishes  to  be  pious  and  earnest, 
if  his  pleasure  may  remain  indulged  in  these 
still  corners. 

With  strong  and  energetic  natures  the  whole 
is  questioned.  The  strife  is  short  but  violent ; 
it  is  either — or,  "all  or  nothing."  With  the 
softer  and  quieter  souls,  Christianity  is  to 
remain  and  sin  to  yield.  But  definite  sins — 
vanity,  sensuous  pleasure,  untruthfulness — are 
to  be  consciously  kept,  even  if  only  to  a 
definite  point  of  time.  But  the  latter,  as  the 
former,  delays  the  development  of  the  Christian. 
To  delay  the  development  of  a  thing  means  to 
repress  the  thing  itself.  The  tendency  of  the 
new  life  is  broken  and  the  power  of  the  good 
snapped.  That  Christianity  so  often  passes 
through  a  sickness  in  the  soul  finds  its  ground 
in  these  spared  and  cherished  sins. 

What  sorrier  form  is  there  than  such  a  half 

Christian?     He  cannot  enjoy  the  world,  and 

he  is  not  able  to  enjoy  God.     His  faith  keeps 

him  from  the  one,  and  his  sin  from  the  other. 

^0 


306    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

So  he  vacillates  about,  a  walking  corpse  in 
the  inward  man,  uncertain,  rent  asunder,  and 
broken. 

There  are  in  history  tensions  over  against 
which  bloody  struggle  is  relief.  There  are 
also  such  circumstances  in  personal  life.  This 
rent  condition  of  the  soul  can  be  put  a  stop 
to  only  through  struggle.  This  struggle  will 
form  the  subject  of  the  first  part  of  the  next 
lecture. 


LECTURE  XVI 

The  Moral  Struggle  for  the  New  Life 
AND  ITS  Goal 

What  is  great  in  the  different  spheres  of  life 
is  remarkably  different  and  remarkably  alike. 
The  gifts  are  different,  but  the  tasks  they  set 
the  soul  are  alike  as  regards  the  faithfulness 
and  energy,  the  completeness  and  constancy 
they  demand.  That  holds  of  Christianity  as 
it  does  of  science  and  of  the  various  kinds  of 
life-work.  No  one  can  preserve  the  new  con- 
tent of  the  soul  which  Christianity  brings 
without  the  application  of  the  highest  spiritual 
energy  and  faithfulness,  which  holds  fast  to 
what  is  given. 

This  observation,  to  which  we  were  led  in 
the  last  lecture,  is  to  be  applied  to  the  moral 

307 


308    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

struggle  in  self-maintenance  also.  As  progress 
in  science  or  art  is  impossible  without  struggle 
and  rejection  of  the  contradicting  and  limiting, 
so  also  in  religion. 

The  new  direction  of  faith  and  love  is 
opposed,  as  we  saw,  by  the  old  moral  tendency 
of  man.  Either  it  turns  against  the  whole  as 
a  whole,  or  one  part  struggles  against  the 
other ;  but  in  the  latter  case  also  the  whole  is 
at  stake. 

There  is  nothing  strange  or  unthinkable  in 
regard  to  this  antithesis  ;  it  is  necessary  in 
view  of  the  constitution  of  man.  If  the 
opposing  elements  which  encounter  one  another 
in  the  soul  of  the  Christian  be  considered  and 
their  force  estimated,  the  terrible  convulsion 
into  which  the  soul  falls  will  be  understood. 
With  all  its  fibres  it  hangs  on  the  world,  and 
yet  it  is  now  bound  to  God.  Then  the  fibres 
snap ;  but  the  band  too  threatens  to  tear.  The 
former  grow  quickly  again.  Can  the  latter  also 
be  again  replaced  ?  Only  he  becomes  master 
of  the  convulsion  who  gains  a  firm  point  from 


THE  NEW  LIFE  AND  ITS  GOAL        309 

which  strength  and  rest  go  forth.  Diversions 
cannot  help  us  over  the  convulsions  of  life  ;  no 
more  do  all  kinds  of  excitements  of  fancy  or 
outward  penances  serve  the  religiously  con- 
vulsed soul. 

On  that  account  marvellous  means  of  help 
should  not  be  expected  in  this  struggle. 
Angels  do  not  descend  from  heaven  to  help 
us  in  it,  nor  does  hell  open  to  warn  us  ;  we 
do  not  receive  new  revelations,  nor  do  new 
powers  stream  through  us.  All  that  would 
only  convulse  us  more.  We  have  the  gospel 
of  God's  sovereignty,  and  we  have  faith  and 
love.  These  are  the  simple  and  sure  means 
by  which  the  inner  conflicts  are  to  be  overcome, 
and  by  which  they  can  be  overcome. 

How  simple,  great,  and  clear  are  the 
thoughts  on  the  revelation  of  God,  and  the 
spiritual  contents  which  they  give  the  soul  as 
faith  and  love  !  Here  lies  the  firm  point,  and 
here  is  given  the  inward  concentration  by 
which  the  soul  overcomes  all  convulsions, 
perplexities,   and   errors.     There   are    various 


tno    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

turns  of  expression  which  historical  tradition 
and  ecclesiastical  custom  use  for  all  this ;  they 
cause  the  historian  much  trouble  in  his  in- 
vestigations. But  to  the  seeking  soul  they 
are  collected  into  a  simple,  great  revelation  of 
God's  all-operative  love,  and  into  unified 
experiences  of  the  loving  working  of  God. 
To  impress  this  upon  you  has  been  one  of 
my  chief  cares,  for  it  was  not  of  theology  but 
of  religion  that  I  wished  to  speak  to  you. 
It  is  certainly  historical  soul-contents  that 
religion  brings  us.  But  the  religious  under- 
standing of  these  contents  does  not  run  its 
course  in  critical  distinctions  and  logical 
differentiations,  but  in  the  experiencing  of 
the  whole,  "of  the  Spirit  and  of  power." 
That  is  not  "  unhistorical,"  for  it  is  this  whole 
that  has  changed  the  world's  history.  History, 
too,  like  dogmatics,  may  become  a  hindrance 
to  faith,  namely,  if  it  tries  to  introduce  in 
any  way,  no  matter  whether  "critically" 
or  "uncritically,"  the  multitude  of  details, 
of  differences  and  gradations  in  which   it   is 


THE  NEW  LIFE  AND  ITS  GOAL        311 

naturally  interested  into  faith.  Whether  with 
Jesus  we  define  the  divine  revelation  as  the 
sovereignty  of  God,  or  with  Paul  speak  of 
the  gracious  justification  of  the  sinner,  or  with 
John  think  of  the  eternal  love  and  truth  of 
God  which  have  been  made  manifest,  makes 
no  difference  here.  For  the  practical  need 
of  the  soul  it  is  immaterial,  for  all  these 
formulae  mediate  the  same  to  it,  namely,  the 
experience  of  the  almighty  love  of  the  all- 
operative  God,  which  receives  the  sinner  and 
gives  him  what  he  needs,  forgiveness  of 
sins  and  a  new  soul,  faith  and  love.  That  is 
the  concentration  which  the  wrestling  soul 
attains  to,  and  from  which  it  comes  to 
clearness  and  victory  in  the  struggle  we 
speak  of. 

A  watchful,  sober,  simple,  and  observant 
life  is  the  first  requirement  in  this  struggle. 
"  Watch  and  pray,"  says  Christ,  "  that  ye 
enter  not  into  temptation."  This  must  be 
worked  out  a  little  in  detail. 

When   the   new   inward   world   which   the 


312    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

Christian  has  acquired  is  assailed  by  tempta- 
tion, its  worth  is  always  depreciated  in  his 
eyes.  It  appears  of  inferior  value  and  empty 
compared  with  the  goods  and  the  pleasure 
which  the  old  world  offers.  Impetuous, 
burning  impulses  rush  through  the  mind  in 
conflict  with  one  another ;  so  life  must 
be  conscious  and  watchful.  We  have  ex- 
perienced the  exaltation  which  faith  and  love 
mean  for  the  soul.  The  forgiveness  and  peace 
which  faith  has  brought  us  are  just  as  present 
to  us  as  the  inward  health  produced  by  the 
active  energy  of  love.  But  while  this  is  being 
experienced,  another  fact  becomes  at  the  same 
time  clear,  namely,  the  transience  of  worldly 
pleasure  and  the  degradation  and  limitation 
which  it  brings  into  our  inward  life. 

One  must  hold  fast  to  these  impressions 
and  always  picture  them  to  oneself  afresh ; 
the  various  experiences  which  the  days  and 
weeks  bring  us  confirm  them.  For  this  one 
thing  is  above  all  necessary — ^the  soul  must  be 
cared  for  and  time  taken  for  its  needs.     He 


THE  NEW  LIFE  AND  ITS  GOAL        813 

who  staggers  from  impression  to  impression ; 
he  who  will  not  wake  from  dreaming  can 
win  no  strong,  self-confident  soul  either  in 
religion  or  in  any  other  sphere. 

This  includes  three  elements:  (1)  It  is  not 
enough  merely  to  talk  of  faith  and  love ;  one 
must  really  have  them,  one  must  experience 
them  and  strive  after  this  experience ;  and  to 
him  who  attends  to  this,  it  will  be  matter  of 
amazement  how  faith  and  love  come  more 
frequently  to  him  and  in  ever  greater  power. 
Faith  and  love  will  become  his  joy  and  his 
longing,  for  they  revive  and  exalt  the  soul. 

(2)  When  the  allurements  of  the  sensuous 
and  external  world  threaten  to  darken  our  soul, 
their  transience  and  vanity  should  be  clearly 
called  to  mind.  Savonarola  kept  an  ivory 
skull  on  the  table  before  him  ;  our  forefathers 
had  Dances  of  Death ;  and  we  have  perhaps 
texts  hung  on  the  wall.  One  gets  accustomed, 
however,  both  to  the  bones  of  the  dead  and 
to  texts  about  the  vanity  of  this  world ; 
but  life   remains   ever  new.      This  life  is  a 


314    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

great  sermon  on  the  transience  of  the  world 
and  the  vanity  of  its  pleasure.  Let  us  not 
interrupt  this  sermon,  but  listen  to  the  knell 
which  accompanies  our  life  and  is  heard  more 
frequently  from  year  to  year.  Nor  let  us 
fail  to  hear  the  cry  or  the  sigh  of  misery  that 
is  heard  behind  the  pleasure. 

(3)  And,  lastly,  let  us  strive  to  become 
masters  of  ourselves.  The  struggle  in  which 
we  are  involved  demands  it.  It  is  a  struggle 
with  regard  to  another  world,  while  we  live  and 
work  in  this  world  ;  and  it  is,  finally,  a  struggle 
with  regard  to  ourselves  and  the  best  in  us. 
The  waves  of  this  struggle  roll  constantly  over 
us.  It  cannot  be  otherwise  so  long  as  we  are 
in  this  world  and  also  of  this  world.  It  cannot 
be  otherwise,  and  it  must  not  be  otherwise.  So 
long  as  we  wrestle  inwardly  we  live,  and  the 
best  lives  in  us,  and  we  live  to  it.  But 
humours  and  moods,  idleness  and  the  hurry  of 
business,  wrest  from  us  ever  afresh  the  sceptre 
over  ourselves.  For  all  an  order  of  life  is 
necessary  in  correspondence  with  their  inward 


THE  NEW  LIFE  AND  ITS  GOAL        315 

spiritual  need.  As  our  calling  regulates  the 
division  of  our  time  during  the  day,  so  we 
should  learn  also  to  order  our  life  from  and  for 
the  highest  point  of  view  possible.  No  one 
can  make  such  an  order  for  another,  for  its 
power  rests  on  individual  peculiarity  and 
adaptedness.  There  is  so  much  in  life  that 
does  not  belong  to  life  and  yet  fills  up  our  Ufe  ; 
it  fills  it  up  but  makes  it  poorer ;  it  becomes 
too  great  for  us  and  we  become  thereby  small. 
Fasting  must  be  learned.  One  can  fast 
from  music  and  literature,  from  society  and 
pleasure,  just  as  from  food.  The  unnecessary 
and  inane  should  be  avoided  in  life.  Life 
must  not  be  spent  "  as  a  tale " ;  it  is  some- 
times —  still  worse  —  only  a  tale !  That  is 
renunciation  and  temperance.  But  in  order 
really  to  serve  God  there  must  also  be  active 
discipline  in  service.  Man  should  so  arrange 
and  order  his  life  that  it  may  become  a  school 
of  discipline  to  him  and  steel  him  with  power 
and  self-mastery.  Only  he  who  endeavours 
to    attain    to    self-mastery    can    serve    God. 


316    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

Dietetics  and  gymnastics  must  be  allowed  to 
rule  in  the  life  of  the  soul  also.  What  makes 
us  inert  to  faith  and  love  should  be  avoided, 
and  we  should  look  to  it  that  our  organs  are 
powerful  and  strong  to  serve  God  and  His 
Kingdom. 

We  have  recognised  what  we  understand 
by  the  conscious  and  watchful  life  of  the  soul. 
The  task  is  now  to  describe  the  moral  struggle 
itself. 

Luther's  first  thesis  runs  :  "  When  our  Lord 
and  Master  Jesus  Christ  says  'repent,'  He 
means  that  the  whole  life  of  believers  should 
be  a  repentance."  Repentance  is  the  struggle 
of  which  we  speak. 

What  do  we  understand  by  repentance  ?  ^ 
The  chief  element  in  it,  according  to  the 
view  of  the  Middle  Ages,  is  penitence  ^  or 
contrition.  The  Reformation  teaches  that 
repentance  is  penitence  and  faith.  The  former 
makes  contrition  the  chief  element,  the  latter 
conceives  it  as  a  stage  on  the  road  to  faith. 
1  Busse.  2  Reue. 


THE  NEW  LIFE  AND  ITS  GOAL        317 

Penitence  is  a  state  of  feeling  in  us.  A  par- 
ticular act,  or  our  whole  moral  life  becomes 
— in  so  far  as  we  are  Christians — an  occasion 
to  a  state  of  disinclination  in  us.  Shame 
and  disgust,  pain  and  fear  seize  us,  when  we 
think  of  ourselves.  This  condition  is  caused 
by  purely  spiritual  occurrences  in  us,  namely, 
by  our  conscience  or  the  moral  self-judgment 
which  we  exercise  in  accordance  with  the 
standard  of  what  we  ourselves  hold  to  be 
good.  The  judgment  of  self  by  the  conscience 
produces  the  deep  feeling  of  unworthiness  and 
shame  in  us. 

This  feeling  is  of  the  greatest  significance. 
It  stirs  up  in  us  disgust  and  abhorrence,  fear 
and  aversion  from  sin.  It  maintains  the  moral 
capacity  and  disposition  in  us.  But  alone  it 
is  not  enough,  for  the  state  of  disinclination 
becomes  always  a  motive  to  a  positive  pleasur- 
able state  ;  it  points  beyond  itself  and  cries  for 
compensation.  Where  there  is  nothing  more 
than  mere  penitence,  it  will  be  experienced 
that  it  is  presently  crowded  out  by  a  new  posi- 


318    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

tive  pleasurable  feeling.  The  state  of  disin- 
clination in  penitence  becomes  a  channel  to 
a  new  sinful  desire.  Everyone  will  corrobor- 
ate this  observation  from  personal  experience. 

But  from  the  Protestant  point  of  view 
penitence  should  lead  to  faith,  and  through 
it  to  love.  That  is  a  possible  demand,  for 
penitence  proceeds  from  faith.  These  acts  of 
moral  self-judgment  which  we  characterise  as 
conscience  have  for  the  Christian,  faith  and 
love  as  their  standard,  and  they  ensue  from 
our  not  having  had  faith  and  love  in  the  given 
case.  Conscience  condemns  us  from  the 
standpoint  of  faith  and  love  because  we  have 
not  approved  faith  and  love.  Remorse  or 
penitence  thus  presupposes  faith  and  love  and 
impels  to  faith  and  love.  The  sin  we  have 
committed  cries  for  forgiveness;  faith  has 
forgiveness.  And  the  sin  under  the  dominion 
of  which  we  fell  demands  for  its  extirpation 
and  forgiveness,  not  only  pain  on  account  of 
it,  but  the  power  and  operativeness  of  the  new 
life  ;  but  that  is  faith  and  love. 


THE  NEW  LIFE  AND  ITS  GOAL        319 

That  is  the  moral  struggle  in  its  inmost 
core.  The  Christian  should  give  place  to 
penitence,  but  he  should  also  let  it  impel  him 
forward  to  faith  and  love.  They  give  satis- 
faction, whereas  penitence  gives  only  a  state 
of  disinclination.  So  the  bad  in  us  becomes 
an  inward  pain  and  torment,  and  this  pain 
becomes  the  channel  for  the  satisfaction  of  the 
soul  through  faith  and  love.  It  is  only 
through  asserting  himself  in  spite  of  sin  that 
the  Christian  can  become  master  of  sin.  Sin 
is  forgiven  in  so  far  as  he  believes  in  God's 
grace,  and  gives  place  to  good  in  so  far  as  he 
receives  in  faith  and  love  the  positive  impulses 
to  love.  The  universal  victory  over  sin  is  faith 
and  love.  But  the  way  to  this  height  leads 
through  the  valley  of  penitence.  Penitence  is 
the  boldest  and  most  marvellous  bridge,  the 
bridge  from  death  to  life,  from  impotence  to 
power. 

That  is  evangelical  repentance.  The  word 
sounds  sad  and  dreary,  like  a  Puritan  Sunday, 
and  it  really  brings  only  unfruitful  self- torment 


320    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

— unfruitful,  because  without  positive  aim — so 
long  as  penitence  only  is  thought  of.  It  is  a 
psychologically  impossible  condition  that  the 
state  of  disinclination  arising  from  penitence 
should  for  long  fill  the  soul.  It  is  vain  to 
struggle  for  the  impossible,  and  so  the  struggle 
is  soon  given  up,  as  everyone  knows.  Some- 
one does  something  wrong  and  vows  "  eternal 
penitence,"  but  time  overcomes  but  too  soon 
this  eternal  penitence,  for  the  purpose  of  it  is 
forgotten.  It  is  only  the  tendency  of  its  own 
nature  that  the  soul  is  following,  when  it  lets 
itself  be  impelled  through  penitence  to  faith. 
Faith  overcomes  sin,  or  it  leads  through 
penitence  to  victory.  He  who  repents  should 
do  it  so  as  to  strive  through  penitence  towards 
faith  and  love. 

And  so  it  is  intelligible  that  repentance  is 
to  the  Christian  a  blessed  word,  for  it  is  the 
sanctifying  of  his  soul  and  it  is  the  means  by 
which  to  remain  victorious  in  the  struggle :  it 
leads  us  down,  but  it  leads  us  through  the 
valley  up  again  to  the  heights  of  the  soul. 


THE  NEW  LIFE  AND  ITS  GOAL        321 

Thus  the  Christian  fights  the  moral  fight :  it 
is  the  struggle  of  self-maintenance  and  nothing 
else.  Man  does  it,  and  the  all-operative  God 
does  it.  Just  as  at  the  beginning  the  new 
birth  is  at  the  same  time  conversion,  as  the 
divine  preservation  of  the  new  life  is  at  the 
same  time  its  personal  development,  so  repent- 
ance or  the  struggle  of  the  morally  aspiring  man 
is  at  the  same  time  the  sanctification  which 
God  works  in  his  soul. 

Thus  the  Christian  goes  through  a  religious 
and  moral  evolution.  No  evolution  is  purpose- 
less, otherwise  it  would  not  be  evolution.  That 
brings  us  to  the  last  point  of  which  we  wish 
to  speak,  namely,  the  goal  of  the  reUgious- 
moral  evolution.  This  goal  is  the  life-ideal,  or 
Christian  perfection. 

There  is  an  ideal  and  a  condition  of  personal 
perfection  towards  which  we  strive.  It  cannot 
be  a  question  of  sinlessness,  or  of  completion,  as 
a  statue  is  complete,  so  that  any  further  touch 
of  the  chisel  only  destroys.  It  must  be  some- 
thing different.     The  Apostle  Paul  said  once 

21 


S22    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

in  reference  to  his  life,  "  Let  us,  as  many  as  be 
perfect,  be  thus  minded."  Before  goes  the 
confession,  **  I  forget  the  things  which  are 
behind,  and  stretch  forward  to  the  things 
which  are  before."  That  is,  then.  Christian 
perfection :  it  is  the  whole-hearted  coming ; 
it  is  the  constancy  and  power  of  aspiration  out 
of  the  world  to  God,  out  of  worldly  pleasure 
and  unbelief  to  faith  and  love.  That  this  life 
is  effected  and  preserved  in  us  through  Christ's 
redemption  needs  not  to  be  repeated,  for  it  is 
implied  in  our  characterising  it  as  faith  and 
love. 

The  ideal  of  the  Christian  life  is  therewith 
characterised :  towards  it  we  should  strive. 
It  is  a  goal  that  is  not  in  the  Beyond,  but 
can  be  understood  and  attained  here  on  earth. 
To  receive  God's  sovereignty  in  faith,  and  to 
realise  His  Kingdom  in  love,  in  constant  readi- 
ness and  in  constant  striving,  receiving  and 
giving,  willing  and  doing,  directly  and  in 
great  things,  indirectly  and  in  little  things, 
so  that,  thus,  through  this  striving,  the  funda- 


THE  NEW  LIFE  AND  ITS  GOAL        323 

mental  intention  and  the  fundamental  direction 
of  our  life  is  characterised — that  is  the  perfection 
of  the  Christian.  But  we  live  in  a  system  full 
of  relations  to  the  earthly  life,  placed  there  by 
God,  and  it  is  only  in  these  relations  that  we 
can  experience  God  and  serve  God,  for  they 
are  the  framework  of  our  life.  These  relations 
are  embraced  in  the  conception  of  the  moral 
vocation,  for  our  vocation  is  the  expression 
for  the  God-ordered  relations  of  our  life  and 
striving  to  the  visible  world.  Hence  it  follows 
that  the  Christian,  just  because  he  has  faith, 
and  therefore  regards  his  natural  position  in 
the  world  also  as  given  and  effected  by  God, 
must  experience,  exemplify,  and  approve  his 
faith  and  his  love  according  to  the  nature  of 
his  vocation.  In  these  relations  he  experiences 
God,  and  in  them  he  serves  Him.  They  are 
windows  to  Him  through  which  the  sun 
shines,  and  organs  by  means  of  which  the 
heart  makes  its  thoughts  operative. 

One  who,   in  his  sphere  of  life,  with  its 
manifold  relations,  experiences   the  all-opera- 


324    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

tive  God  and  serves  His  Kingdom,  and  who 
wills  and  seeks  this  constantly  and  with  all  his 
strength,  is  perfect  in  this  seeking  and  striving. 
He  realises  the  ideal  of  the  Christian  life. 

One  who  knows  what  he  wills  and  wills 
what  he  knows  is  a  moral  character.  The 
ideal  of  his  life  is  his  firm  possession,  and  he 
himself  has  become  a  conscious  organ  of  this 
ideal.  One  who  consciously  experiences  and 
wills  to  experience  the  sovereignty  of  God, 
and  who  consciously  subjects  and  wills  to 
subject  himself  to  it  in  faith  and  love  is  a 
Christian  character.  The  Christian  character  is 
the  Christian  life-ideal.  The  Christian  character 
is  the  highest  form  of  a  moral  personality. 

He  who  has  reached  this  ideal  in  any 
measure  has  gained  the  exaltation  of  soul 
which  we  have  found  in  faith  and  love.  But 
this  exaltation  of  soul  is  accompanied  by  the 
feeling  of  full  satisfaction:  life  in  faith  and 
love  is  a  blessed  Ufe.  Blessedness  is  the 
produce  of  the  Christian  life. 

But   it   must  not   be    forgotten    that    the 


THE  NEW  LIFE  AND  ITS  GOAL        325 

condition  just   described   is  not  meant  as  a 
satiety  or  ease  of  the  soul,  as  a  cessation  of 
aspiring  and   struggling,  as  a  purely  routine 
existence.      Piety    does    not    admit  pinguis 
Minerva,  nor  does  the  soul  live  on  the  interest 
of  its  past — for  example,  with  an  argumenta- 
tion like  the  well-known,  "  We  have  Abraham 
to  our  Father."    This  condition  is,  and  remains, 
real  life.     Life  is   movement,  and  this  life  is 
struggle.     Ever  anew  does  the  soul  sink  back 
into   the   dust  and  to  the  debris  of  worldly 
pleasure,  to  which  it  clings  and  adheres  with 
the  cement  of  self-deception ;  and  ever  anew 
does  the  almighty  power  of  love  snatch  it 
forth  to  the  whole,  to   exalted   eternal  life; 
and  ever  anew  does  this  life  lay  hold  on  it 
with  fear  and  pleasure.     But  yet  the  upward 
tendency  becomes  stronger  and  stronger ;  the 
way  leads,  in  spite  of  all  things,  heavenward. 
And  herein   lies  the  "  eternal  youth "  of  the 
Christian  soul,  of  which  Schleiermacher  speaks. 
To  the   old,  in  what  is  called   "the  wisdom 
of  years,"  the  contrasts   gradually  disappear ; 


TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

everything  becomes  more  and  more  relative 
and  like.  The  Christian  cannot  grow  old,  for 
deep  in  his  heart  he  experiences,  and  the 
longer  the  more  vividly,  the  vast,  bridgeless 
contrast  between  the  world  and  God,  between 
evil  and  good,  between  time  and  eternity. 
And  from  the  vividness  of  this  experience 
well  forth,  in  all  the  freshness  of  youth  and 
strength  of  life,  pain  and  pleasure  to  the  last. 
But  pain  and  pleasure  are  the  power  and 
prerogative  of  youth.  And  in  this  youthful 
experience  the  consciousness  of  eternity  that 
is  formed  in  communion  with  the  eternal 
God  becomes  personal,  immediate,  and  fresh 
in  the  soul,  even  when  time  threatens  to 
become  master  over  this  life. 

That  is  it.  Upon  the  life's  path  of  the 
Christian  shines  the  glory  of  eternal  life,  and 
his  eye  sees  it,  although  his  feet  walk  in  the 
dust.  The  life  from  God  is  "astema  beatitudo" 
to  us,  but  precisely  on  that  account  we  cannot 
become  "beati  possidentes"  in  the  common 
usage  of  the  word. 


THE  NEW  LIFE  AND  ITS  GOAL        327 

And  beyond  this  goal  lies  only  a  last  stage. 
The  way  thereto  leads  through  death.  Our 
evolution  lies  in  God's  hand.  The  eternal 
love  which  our  faith  experiences  guarantees 
us  blessedness  in  this  last  stage  too. 

What  hinders  the  blessedness  of  the  Christian 
on  earth  ?  There  is  a  twofold  hindrance,  sin 
in  him  and  sin  around  him.  Blessedness 
becomes  completely  his  when  the  sin  in  his 
heart  and  in  the  relationships  of  life  is  no 
more. 

Such  a  condition  we  look  forward  to  after 
death,  in  the  life  beyond.  We  believe  it 
because  we  believe  in  God  as  the  all-operative 
love.  As  to  what  changes  this  world  will 
experience  before  that  condition  of  perfection 
— who  can  imagine  what  like  it  will  be  in 
Berhn  500  or  1000  years  after  this  ?  As  to 
what  destinies  will  pass  over  our  soul  in  the 
darkness  of  the  state  of  death  we  can  only 
make  suppositions  in  accordance  with  our 
faith  and  our  world-philosophy.  But  we  will 
not  leave  the  firm  ground  of  the  religious  life. 


328    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

After  death  a  new  life,  as  we  know,  is  to 
become  ours.  So  far  as  our  knowledge  of 
mankind  goes,  we  know  no  real  state  of  life 
or  relation  to  other  living  beings  except  in  the 
forms  of  some  kind  of  sensuous  life.  We  can 
think  of  one  whose  body  is  mouldering  as 
indeed  existing,  but  not  as  actively  alive.  The 
soul  of  the  dead  may  be  conceived  of  after  the 
analogy  of  such  human  conditions  as  those 
in  which  the  soul  is  active  without  sense 
activity,  for  example,  in  the  condition  of  dreams. 
Life  with  all  the  pleasure  and  power  expressed 
in  the  word  is  somehow  mediated  through 
and  conditioned  by  the  senses.  The  old 
Christian  conception  of  the  "resurrection  of 
the  body  "  corresponds  in  its  own  way  to  what 
the  newer  psychology  teaches  us.  Thereby 
it  has  really  become  a  modern  conception 
again. 

And  what  can  it  be  with  this  last  stage? 
A  falling  asleep  in  faith  in  Him  whose  opera- 
tion all  is ;  a  still  dreaming  of  Him  who  is 
in  all  things ;  and  a  blessed  awakening  at  the 


THE  NEW  LIFE  AND  ITS  GOAL 

dawn  of  the  day  when  He  is  all  in  all.  Then 
the  soul  enters  again  in  conscious  activity  on 
what  was  its  fundamental  tendency,  namely, 
faith  and  love,  and  the  golden  doors  of  the 
eternal  world  are  opened.  God  reigns,  and 
we  feel  His  glory,  and  are  the  useful,  willingly 
serviceable  organs  of  His  sovereignty,  having 
faith  and  loving,  receiving  and  giving  in 
accordance  with  our  nature.  This  nature 
remains,  nay,  it  is  only  then  that  we  become 
completely  what  we  are.  God  saves  us  from 
the  world  and  from  sin  and  from  ourselves,  and 
it  is  only  thereby  that  we  become  ourselves. 
We  are  redeemed  through  Christ  to  eternal 
blessedness. 

That  is  eternal  blessedness.  But  the  gay- 
coloured  curtain  of  this  varied  world  hangs 
before  the  last  act  of  its  history,  and  only 
seldom  does  the  eye  catch  a  glimpse  of  the 
glory  behind,  when  the  curtain  is  lifted  by 
a  breeze  of  the  Spirit.  But  there  is  finally 
only  one  thing  to  which  the  heart  can  cling, 
namely,  faith  in  the  eternal  Love.     "  Father, 


330    TRUTHS  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  RELIGION 

I  will  that  they  also,  whom  Thou  hast  given 
Me,  be  with  Me  where  I  am " ;  and  again, 
"Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither 
have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things 
which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love 
Him."  Fancy  may  complete  the  picture — 
one  has  but  to  think  of  Dante,  or  of  books 
of  all  kinds,  whether  about  heaven  or  hell — 
and  that  is  its  prerogative.  Let  me  be  silent, 
for  I  think  that  for  this  too  what  the  poet 
says  holds  good,  one  must  not  "  magna  parvis 
tenuare  modis,"  or  wed  a  slight  melody  to 
a  great  text. 

Religion  does  not  solve  the  last  enigmas  as 
to  particular  and  small  things,  but  it  banishes 
fear  of  the  particulars.  But  one  thing  is 
certain,  that  only  those  can  see  that  world 
who  have  belonged  to  it  here.  It  follows 
from  the  fact  that  we  are  what  we  are.  No 
one  attains  to  blessedness  who  has  not  attained 
to  it  in  this  life  in  faith  and  love.  Of  eternal 
value  and  an  eternal  organ  in  God's  Kingdom 
only  he  can  be  who  has  been  of  worth  and 


THE  NEW  LIFE  AND  ITS  GOAL        331 

has  become  an  organ  of  God  here.  It  cannot 
be  otherwise.  We  do  not  reckon  with 
"  metamorphoses  " ;  and  though  we  did,  it  is 
quite  clear  that  no  metamorphoses  could  bring 
blessedness  as  we  understand  it.  The  time  of 
this  life  is  short,  but  yet  it  is  long  enough 
as  a  way  to  eternal  life. 

This  brings  us  to  the  end  of  our  course. 
I  hope  we  have  not  worked  in  vain.  The 
sovereignty  of  God  and  faith,  the  Kingdom 
of  God  and  love — that  is  the  Christian  religion. 
It  brings  us  peace  and  active  energy,  and 
thereby  satisfies  the  need  of  our  soul.  That 
is  all.  May  it  become  something  to  you  also. 
It  cannot  become  anything  to  anyone  without 
becoming  his  all. 


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